Chasing Ghosts
by arie1
Summary: Danielle Jones was ordinary. She had her small apartment she could barely afford, her books she liked to bury herself into and the two boys she often found herself looking after. Danielle Jones was completely and utterly ordinary until she found herself staring at two blondes in a Chinese Restaurant one night.
1. Staring

**Title:** Chasing Ghosts  
**Chapter One**: Staring  
**Words: **3,342  
**Edited:**  
**Notes:** I thought I would try uploading a sample for a Lost Boys fan fiction I have been working on around my Katherine Rose-Tyler story, I hope you all enjoy this as well. The Lost Boys is my favourite vampire film of all time and one of my favourite films of all time as well, I hope you all enjoy my story, your feedback is welcomed.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Lost Boys, though I really wish I did.

**-0-**

Danielle Jones wasn't an idiot. She had done some pretty idiotic things in her lifetime but she had always been on the intelligent side of the track. Standing in front of her neighbours, two boys no older than fourteen she felt utterly responsible for them even though she had known them for only two months and couldn't understand how she had let this situation slip by her in the past.

"Don't either of you have school?" She asked, eyeing the two boys with curiosity "You should have left ten minutes ago, at this rate you're going to be late. Alan you told me your parents ran this shop while you had school, is that true?"

"They do-" Alan began, but his brother was having none if it today

"They don't" Edgar stated

"Why don't you just close the shop?" Danielle asked

"We'd lose too much money-" Edgar argued

"We've done it before" Alan said, rolling his eyes while he did so "Edgar we've gotta' go, we can't miss anymore school than we already do"

"Is hiring someone to work the shop during the day not an option?" Danielle suggested "I'm sure you could find someone around here that'd be willing"

"You expect us to trust someone we don't know with the shop? With all of the comics and the money we're pulling in?" Edgar glared at the older girl "Of course you would"

"Well, I was just trying to help" Danielle said softly, she had grown used to Edgar's tone of voice and criticism to the suggestions she often had.

"You could do it?" Alan said, turning to his brother "Yeah, she could do it man we trust her"

"You trust her" Edgar grumbled "I on the other hand-"

"I wouldn't have said yes anyway Edgar as I already have a job" Danielle smiled at the younger, friendlier brother "If I could, I would"

"Yeah like waiting tables is a good job" Edgar grumbled

"I bet it pays more than it would here" Danielle smiled "And that's what matters, now you both need to go to school, you miss enough as it is already as Alan said"

Danielle watched them both begrudgingly pack up the shop, bringing all of the comic stands inside and grabbing their backpacks from behind the counter.

"Have fun leaning" She told the boys brightly – Alan grinned but Edgar rolled his eyes and mumbled something Danielle couldn't hear under his breath before walking towards the exit of the Boardwalk.

Danielle Jones had met Alan and Edgar Frog whilst browsing through the comic book shop they both ran for their parents two months ago while she was on her lunch break, Alan had always been pretty friendly but Edgar was quite the opposite – though deep down Danielle thinks she is beginning to grow on him. He isn't as sarcastic and rude as he used to be.

The walk to the diner Danielle worked from nine to five every weekday was only a few shops away; it was quite small and was hardly busy on the hours that she had to work. The uniform consisted of a light blue dress that fell just below the mid length of her thing with a small open necked collar; it looked like something straight from the fifties.

Danielle arrived five minutes early, like always and tied the black apron around her waist – which was completely pointless. It's not like Danielle was cooking the food and the apron couldn't even be called an apron to begin with, it was so short that if it came down to it the apron probably wouldn't protect her uniform from food stains.

The diner itself went alongside with the uniform, looking like something pulled straight out of the 50's with its black and white tiled floor, squishy red chaired booths, old records hung along the wall along with portraits of James Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and even a little old retro jukebox sat in the very far left hand corner.

It was run by and elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Hart – they were lovely and incredibly polite so much that it freaked Danielle out at first; they hired her on the day and didn't even ask if she had any prior experience.

They were both behind the counter and smiled brightly as she walked through the doors, she joined them momentarily after she had placed her bag away under the counter.

"How're you this morning dear?" the elder lady asked

"I'm fine and yourself Mrs. Hart?"

"How many times do we have to tell you Danny, call us by our first names" she scolded the younger girl lightly "You make me feel terribly old when you use my name with a title"

"Sorry Anna" Danielle shook her head "I'll try harder, I promise"

As expected, the day dragged by. With it being so quiet Anna and Jeremy saw no need to put two waitresses on duty especially when they were both working as well – the only other staff present were the cooks out the back who Danielle hardly ever spoke to unless she was retrieving orders. Danielle had never worked nights here but she hoped it eventually grew busier than how it was during the day, if it didn't she had no idea how the place ran and kept itself in business.

At 4:58 exactly Gemma walked through the door.

Gemma was tiny thing, blonde and blue eyes she stood at five feet flat. She couldn't be older than sixteen. She and Danielle had never spoken and that wasn't about to begin today, Danielle retrieved her bag as soon as Gemma had out hers away and smiled at the owners of the little café before heading towards the doors

"Bye" she waved, noticing the nonresponse she received from the blonde and the bright smiles she received from my bosses.

Danielle began walking back to the comic book shop, smiling and waving at the two brothers as she walked past the half-crowded shop and into the apartment building next door, which is how she had met the brothers in the first place. She continued her way up the staircases and to the third floor, fishing the keys out of her bag and entering the small, yet cozy apartment with the faded number 5 hanging on the front door.

It really was quite small only having three rooms; the main room which held a small kitchen, a circular dining table with three chairs, a large sofa and a bookshelf, one bedroom which had a surprisingly comfy large queen sized bed with a matching set of drawers and vanity table and lastly a bathroom which barely fit the large bathtub, toilet and sink. The apartment was small but it wasn't a dump and it was also fairly priced which is incredibly rare to find around Santa Carla, especially if it was located on the boardwalk. The walls were painted a soft yellow and most of the furniture was white – the colour scheme was simple but it all went well together and wasn't oddly matched.

Danielle dropped the bag onto the large couch and stripped out of her uniform, leaving it on the floor as she quickly threw on some jeans and an old black t-shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves and had several tears in the back. With the rent and grocery shopping taking up most of her pay check clothing definitely wasn't on the top of Danielle's wish list.

She picked up an old, worn copy of Anna Karenina and continued from where she had left off, where Kerenin is consulting for a divorce which back then in Russia was quite rare and could only be requested if an affair had taken place. Anna Karenina was one of Danielle's favourite books of all time and she personally believes it to be one of the best in the world, she had lost count long ago of how many times she had read it.

The skies grew dark and Danielle took no notice, to that or the cheers and cries from the crowds and rides from the Boardwalk below – she however did notice when her stomach started growling almost painfully. She regretfully tore my gaze from the book and marked the current page with a bookmark, fishing out her wallet from the bottom of the bag that was next to her. She placed a twenty dollar bill in her pocket before leaving and locking up her home.

The comic book shop was still quite crowded, well as crowded as comic book shops could be and the brothers were both behind the counter. Danielle walked towards them, earning an eye roll from Edgar but a nod and smile from Alan

"I'm going to Ichi-Ban, can I get either of you anything?" She asked

"We already ate" Alan said "Thank you though"

"Alright, I'll see you both later" Danielle waved before turning around and taking her leave

"Don't get eaten" Alan said seriously, the girl shook her head and rolled her own eyes this time, she couldn't believe they were still going on about Vampires.

"I won't" Danielle didn't voice her true thoughts though and continued on her way.

"You know one day you'll take us seriously and that'll be one day too late as you'll be getting fed on" Edgar called out after the older girl

"I'll believe it when I see it Edgar" Danielle said lowly, low enough she hoped so that the boy didn't hear.

Ichi-Ban was pretty much empty when Danielle entered; the couple that ran the place were behind the counter and who Danielle guessed to be their son was cleaning up a dirty table. This was somewhere Danielle came often when she had her head stuck in a book and had forgotten to cook, Ichi-Ban was cheap and the food was great.

She walked up to the counter and smiled at the small Asian lady who by now already knew Danielle's order by memory.

"You want Katsu Chicken with no sauce, extra chicken?" The store owner asked politely, already scribbling down the order onto a small writing pad

"Perfect" Danielle replied, placing the correct amount of money on the counter and walking to her usual booth which sat against the far wall in the middle of the restaurant.

The only other people occupying the place were a young couple who were playing footsies under the table. She sank into the booth, edging towards the corner and pulling her knees up to her chest so that she was taking up one whole side of the booth.

The order was placed on the table before Danielle, steaming and sitting inside a little Chinese container, it smelled amazing and she couldn't wait to dig in. Danielle checked that they had remembered to give her a plastic fork instead of chopsticks, thankfully they had. She had never been taught how to use them and she doesn't think she would ever attempt to try eating with them again seeing as the first time went absolutely horribly wrong.

The first strip of chicken had just been swallowed when Danielle was suddenly distracted by the faint bell chime of the entrance door; normally she wouldn't be bothered with people, or staring at them for the matter but one of the two boys was wearing the most odd jacket Danielle had ever seen and she couldn't help but try and get a glimpse at all of the patches that had been ironed or sewed on.

The boy with the jacket was a little shorter than his friend and had long, curly hair that cascaded down his back, his white undershirt ended above his bellybutton and his baggy jeans sat firmly on his hips. The taller boy also had blonde hair, not as long as the first but it ended just below his shoulders, it was messy and made him look like he had just woken up and rolled out of bed but it suited his overall appearance which consisted of a fishnet shirt topped with a long navy blue coat that fell to his knees and tight beige pants.

Danielle went back to my food immediately before they could spot her staring, digging into the simple bliss that was Chicken and Rice. She remembered the first time she had come here and ordered, the woman looked at her like she was crazy when she asked for no sauce. Just plain chicken with rice by itself with no Katsu sauce and a fork instead of chopsticks, still do this day Danielle giggles at the owners expressions.

Her mind wondered soon to the Frog Brothers and what they possibly could have eaten for dinner seeing as they don't cook for themselves and most of the time if she was not making them eat something healthy they were off eating Carnival Food. Their parents barely take care of themselves let alone their two young sons and it makes Danielle incredibly sad, but at least they have the right state of mind, kind of anyway, if you exclude their elusive beliefs in vampires.

Movement caught Danielle's eyes and she glanced up quickly at the table next to her own and saw that the two blondes had taken a seat; both of them were now seated on the further side of the booth so that they were facing her. The thought of anyone, let alone two attractive boys watching her eat made Danielle incredibly nervous. She continued eating the Chinese, not lifting her eyes in the slightest in case they caught her staring.

The taller of the two blondes could definitely model from what she remembered, though the whole fishnet shirt was a little strange.

At her thoughts Danielle heard a snort of laughter coming from the table next to hers; she couldn't help but look up to see the boy with the patched Jacket laughing quietly into his hand while the other shoved him roughly. They looked quite similar to one and other now that she was closer, maybe they were related? They could definitely pass as cousins and maybe even brothers.

And there was that jacket, it really was quite eye-catching. Danielle was seeing how many skulls she could count before realizing that she was indeed staring again, openly staring this time. Danielle immediately glanced to the boy's face and to her surprise and horror realized he was looking back, a tiny smirk playing on his lips.

Danielle immediately went back to her food and tried to forget the small exchange.

_Really this all could have been easily avoided if she could have just been bothered cooking for myself, _Danielle thought, shaking her head slightly.

Once she had finished her Chinese Danielle stood to her feet, taking the empty takeout box with her and placing it on the front counter. The Chinese woman smiled and nodded her head as a sign of thanks before throwing it in the bin.

"Thank you" Danielle smiled and walking towards the exit "The food is always good here, I'll be back soon"

Danielle didn't look back to the table which held the two boys and instead made a beeline towards the apartment building. The crowds were still pretty big as the Boardwalk didn't close for another two and a half hours, she was bumped into three times on the short walk back to her home but this behavior wasn't surprising. Apart from the odd tourist here and there Santa Carla was pretty much a teenage-runaway central, Danielle could talk seeing as she was one herself. But she was lucky; she got a job which paid well enough for her own apartment and food for the table.

Apart from the Frog brothers the young girl didn't really know anyone in this small town, though she didn't really make an effort to make new friends and meeting the Frog brothers was completely coincidental in the first place. Danielle had no idea they even lived in the same apartment building as she did. It was Nights like tonight she usually stayed in the shop until it closed, making friendly banter with Edgar and polite conversation with Alan and it was always the only time she left her home at night, it just wasn't safe around here. Too many people went missing and Danielle wanted to live a little bit longer before disappearing off the face of the Earth.

Once Danielle reached the comic book shop she sat in her usual seat, next to Edgar as Alan walked around making sure no one was stealing or asking a customer if they needed help with finding anything.

"Did either of you honestly have something to eat?" Danielle asked "Something that wasn't corn dogs, fried Twinkies or fairy floss?"

"Stop mothering, it isn't an attractive trait" Edgar replied, surveying the store from next to where Danielle sat

"I'm not trying to be attractive Edgar; I'm asking if you've had something proper to eat"

"We had curly fries before you came down" he muttered, obviously not happy with the choice of food

"I would have bought you both something" Danielle sighed "All you had to do was tell me what you wanted when I went to get Chinese"

"Yeah well you ain't our parents so just quit it" he somewhat snapped, obviously Daniele had crossed the invisible line that had been drawn down the track

"I'm not trying to be your parent Edgar, I'm just making sure you don't starve, I didn't realize that was a bad thing" Edgar didn't reply to her words "Teriyaki or Katsu chicken?"

"Teriyaki" he replied, he sounded somewhat defeated "Alan likes Katsu with extra sauce"

"I'll be back in ten minutes"

Danielle made her way back to the Chinese restaurant and ordered for her two neighbours, barely having to wait 3 minutes before they had the correct orders in a plastic bag and ready for her to go. She exited the shop, making sure the bag was tied at the top and that they hadn't forgotten any chopsticks before looking up eying the person that was walking backwards towards her – before Danielle could say anything the boy had walked into her, causing her to drop the bag and fall down to the ground quite ungracefully.

"People need to start watching where they're going" Danielle sighed while checking the plastic bag to see if anything had spilt, thankfully nothing had.

"I could say the same for you" the boy replied, Danielle didn't realize she had said her words loud enough for anyone to hear.

"I'm sorry but if I'm not mistaken you were the one who was walking backwards, into me might I add. From my perspective and position on the floor you're indeed in the wrong here" Danielle looked up for the first time and to her dismay realized that it was one of the boys from Ichi-Ban earlier, the one that wore the fishnet shirt and the long jacket though he looked quite taken back by the words she had just spoken.

She had not said her words rudely, not a hint of harshness laced her tone which wasn't weird for Danielle. She didn't like conflict of any sort and believed that violence would solve nothing.

His friend was also with him, the one with the cool jacket but so were two more boys

"And you don't even offer to help a girl off her feet?" Danielle asked, laughter lacing her voice.

Just as she was about to get to her feet the boy held out a hand, this caused Danielle to laugh lightly

"It doesn't count if you have to say something before the offer" Danielle didn't pushed his hand aside but rose to her feet anyway; she walked around the group of boys and made her way back towards the comic shop.

The only thing Danielle could think of is that she just had to run into the two boys that she had been caught staring at earlier. _This is why I don't leave my apartment_ she though, shaking her head slightly once more at the nights events.


	2. Meeting

**Title:** Chasing Ghosts  
**Chapter Two:** Meeting  
**Words:** 4,589  
**Edited:**  
**Notes:** I am so surprised at all the positive feedback I received, thank you all so much! I'll leave the replies for the reviews at the bottom of this chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I already have half of the third chapter written but other than that I've got nothing so I'm open to any suggestions you all have : - )  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys, though I really wish I did.

**-0-**

"I'll be cooking dinner tonight" Danielle said, Alan was outside of the shop as she was walking home from her shift and looked delighted at the thought of a home cooked meal.

"What are you cooking?" Edgar asked curiously, having joined his brother at the topic of food.

"Lasagna, made completely from scratch"

"Sounds really good" Alan nodded, though Edgar didn't say a thing

"So how's school" Danielle asked

"It was alright-" Alan began

"Same shit different day" Edgar waved his hand

"You don't have to cook for us all the time" Alan said, changing the conversation "We wouldn't want to put you out"

"I always make too much anyway" Daniele lied, she could make the correct portions if she wished, but neither of the boys ever had a home cooked meal, the thought still saddened her.

"Liar – you just feel sorry for us" Edgar growled, taking on the defensive side as he usually did. Edgar took the cooking as a sign of pity, he really didn't understand.

"I don't actually" Danielle said "I don't feel sorry for you Edgar, but have you ever thought what you would do if I didn't cook on occasion? Or tell you when you're running late for school? Because all I'm trying to do is be a good person and you make it really hard for me to do that sometimes"

It was the first time Danielle had ever really responded to Edgar's words, she usually shook them off with a small smile and let the boy have his say. To her astonishment Edgar didn't blow up at her words and instead just stood there looking quite surprised.

"She has you their man" Alan laughed "C'mon, brighten up, not like she's a vamp or anything so what's the big deal?"

"Nothing" the other brother grunted "When will it be ready?"

"Are either of you hungry?" Danielle asked, they both looked like they wanted to say yes but shook their heads instead "In that case I'll start making it as soon I get home okay? I shouldn't be longer than an hour and a half"

It didn't, an hour and twenty minutes later Danielle had sliced the thick meal into three servings, placing them into two bowls and leaving the third serve on the counter before walking down to the Comic shop. As soon as she had walked through the entrance to the comic book shop Alan was on her like a fly and thanking Danielle before taking a bowl from her hand and eating a rather large mouthful. Danielle walked behind the counter and handed Edgar his, even though he seemed to not like the older girl so much he definitely approved of her cooking.

"Thanks" Edgar even sounded sincere, something that had never happened in the previous times she had made dinner

"s' r-ly gd" Alan was nodding in delight, barely chewing the food properly before swallowing

"Where's yours?" Edgar asked, taking another bite

"At my place still, I wanted to come and give you your good before I started eating mine" She smiled

"You didn't want to eat with us?" Alan asked, looking put out and sad at the thought

"I couldn't carry all three bowls, if I had tried that it would have ended very tragically" Danielle laughed

"You can if you want to" Alan suggested

"Well-" Danielle glanced at Edgar who was once again rolling his eyes

"Despite what you may think I don't actually hate you" the boy said

"All right, as long as I'm welcome" Danielle grinned.

Minutes later Danielle was back in her seat, eating with the two boys who still hadn't finished their portions which was no surprise seeing how thick the lasagna was.

"You're such a good cook" Alan complimented "And you did it all yourself? None of the microwave stuff?"

"I really like cooking, it's a great way to pass time and I find I'm quite handy in the kitchen" Danielle said, taking another mouthful "I'm cooking chicken pasta bake tomorrow if either of you would like some, I always make enough to last me throughout the week" That wasn't a lie, she really did make enough to last her through the week so she wouldn't have to cook again.

"That'd be great" Alan said enthusiastically, for once Edgar offered no decline and put the bowl down so he could stood to serve a customer.

"He's coming round" Alan said "Don't worry about him, for some reason he thinks we're your charity case or something"

I nodded at Alan's words, it wasn't hard to understand why Edgar is the way he is.

"Wait we aren't right? Your charity cases?" he asked, looking quite sad at the thought.

"Alan, you're both my neighbours who need decent food, sleep, to attend school and to shower" Danielle smiled warmly

"Danielle that was one time-" Alan defended

"One time too many" Danielle said, grin growing larger at the topic of conversation.

Edgar actually snorted with laugher at her words; maybe he was coming around after all.

It was nearing on 7:00 when Danielle left with the three empty bowls, surprisingly she had ate her whole portion to herself much to the both of the boys obvious disappointment.

_I wonder if I needed any extras for the chicken past bake_, she thought.

Danielle wasn't watching where she was going when she walked out of the comic shop, too busy thinking of the recipe and ingredients for tomorrow when she walked into someone, she had no idea how she kept hold of the three empty bowls as she stumbled.

"I'm so sorry" she laughed "Usually I always pay attention when I'm walking on the boardwalk-"

"We've gotta' stop meeting like this" Danielle glanced up quickly and to her shock their stood the taller of the two blondes she had ran into a little over a week ago, his friend with the patched jacket was standing next to him "And from my perspective you're indeed in the wrong here" he mocked, though the grin he wore told Danielle he was just playing around.

"Yes, well at least I apologized" She grinned, hoping the boy would catch on to her jesting.

"Hey, I offered to help you up" he retorted, crossing his arms with a playful smile

"After I had already pointed it out to you, as I said it doesn't count" Danielle laughed "Alas it doesn't matter, I walked into you this time so I guess that makes us even"

"Until next time" the boy grinned

"Well, let us hope we can avoid that" Danielle said, walking around the two boys

"You need a hand?" the other asked, speaking for the first time.

Danielle smiled at the kind offer but shook her head anyway.

"I'm fine thank you; I live in the apartment building next door" I nodded towards the apartment

"You gonna' come back down? Once you've taken those up" he gestured towards the bowls

"Probably not, I don't like being out here on the boardwalk at night" both of the boys looked surprised at Danielle's response

"Why?" they asked together

"Too many people go missing around here for me to go wandering around here by myself at night" Danielle smiled sadly "I don't really fancy being one of the next to go missing"

"Smart" the shorter one nodded

"Well I'm going to take my leave" said Danielle, rather awkwardly "Standing on the Boardwalk with dirty dishes probably isn't the best look"

She also didn't know either of these boys and the fact that they were extremely good looking made talking to them just that little bit harder.

"You're not going to tell us your name?" The taller one asked, Danielle shook her head and turned towards the direction of her apartment building

"You never asked"

**-0-**

"Wait, you're both having lunch here?" Danielle asked, still astonished at the boys showing up on her doorstep at exactly 12:00 sharp "I would have bought it down for you"

"Parents actually decided to watch the shop for a while" Edgar mumbled "So why not"

The brothers had never been inside before; lucky Danielle had those spare chairs at the little dining table otherwise they'd all either be dining on the floor or the couch.

"All right, let me go grab a few plates, I won't be a minute" She said, turning and heading into the kitchen.

Danielle watched the boys gaze around the apartment, taking everything in before they finally turned back to her.

"Smaller than ours" Edgar pointed out, though not rudely

"I don't need a bigger one, not really, I mean it's only me after all" said Danielle

"That's a point"

"You don't have a cross hanging anywhere" Alan frowned "We'll get you one"

"There isn't any need Alan-" Danielle began

"What if a Vamp decides to come knocking on your door? You need to be prepared Danielle. We can get you a stake too just in case"

"Alright" Danielle went along with it, after these past few months she knew not to argue with the Frog brothers about Vampires, it wasn't very wise.

"Why don't you believe us when we talk about Vampires" Edgar asked, taking the plate of food Danielle had held out for him

"Because I have never seen one" she smiled

"Our word isn't good enough?"

"It's not that your word isn't good enough Edgar, I just find it difficult to believe what someone, or anyone tells me unless I've seen it for myself"

"So you don't believe in God?" Alan asked, taking a big bite of the pasta bake

"No, I don't. If they day comes where I die and I find myself in heaven I'll drop to my knees and pray. But I can't put my blind faith in a book like that, I tried but I just couldn't do it" Danielle shook her head

"That's a good point" Alan agreed

"I'm open to everyone's opinion and I will respect their opinions of course"

The three ate the rest of their food, their time was spent exchanging small chitchat here and there before Edgar got to his feet, collected the dirty dishes and walked towards the sink – to Danielle's surprise he began washing them.

"I can do-" She began

"You cooked" Edgar interrupted, not letting her finish what she was going to say "I'm doing the dishes, don't complain"

"Alright" Danielle held her hands up in defense before Alan got to his feet as well

"I'll dry" Alan said, accompanying his brother by the small kitchen sink

"What time are you both heading back to the comic shop?" Danielle asked

"Soon, around one o'clock, I don't want to leave them alone too long" Edger said

"What do you do anyway?" Alan asked, looking around the room "You hardly ever leave here; you don't have a TV or well, anything"

"I read" Danielle said simply, gesturing towards the bookshelf which was already overflowing with books that she didn't have room for

"Read? Like books?" Alan grimaced

"Yes, like books" she laughed "Is that so crazy"

"All you do is read?" Edgar clarified

"Well, I draw sometimes" Danielle admitted "Not very often anymore though, I prefer to read"

"Do you have anything we could see?" Alan asked

"I have my old school portfolio under the couch, I think"

But Alan had already walked over towards the large couch, was on his knees and searching for the old portfolio. Danielle hadn't even touched a pencil since she moved here all those months ago, the portfolio had been sitting there for quite some time.

"Ah, here" he pulled out a large A3 sized folder "Come have a look Edgar" the brother sat beside him on the couch and peered at the first drawing as Edgar opened it

"You drew this?" Alan asked

"Yeah" Danielle smiled "It was my best subject beside English"

"Man look at this" Alan said, pointing towards the newest page

"No shit" Edgar laughed "That looks so real, this is a drawing? You drew this?"

"Yeah" Danielle said faintly, walking towards the couch and looking at the eye she had drawn barely weeks before she packed her bags and left.

"This is like picture perfect" Alan said, running a finger over the top of the plastic

"I'm actually really impressed" Edgar grinned "Who knew you'd be this good at something"

"I'm a good cook!" Danielle laughed

"Yeah but that isn't really a cool skill you know?"

"So you'd prefer my cooking to be terrible?" She asked, rising an eyebrow as she did so

"No"

"Then cooking is definitely a cool skill"

The Frog brothers flipped through all 20 pages, looking at each drawing back to front. Alan showered Danielle with compliments on most of the work inside and Edgar often joined him.

Daniele hadn't drawn something since she was in school, though she still had all of her equipment; all different types of lead pencils, charcoal pencils, ink, paints, stencils, watercolors and even some chalk. She liked things that took up hours of time which art had a way of doing as did reading; she enjoyed starting something and then hours later realizing that she did indeed waste all that time, but look what she created while doing so, something beautiful.

The boys left at 1 o'clock as they said they would, leaving the portfolio open on the couch instead of its old place underneath it.

**-0-**

"What'd you do for the rest of the day?" Alan asked, pushing his empty bowl aside for the second time that day.

"I read the rest of my book and then I heated this up" Danielle grinned at the empty bowls

"You lead an interesting life" Edgar commented

"I know, are you jealous?" he laughed at her words "Edgar, did I just make you laugh?"

"Don't make such a big deal about it. Alan you want ice cream?" Edgar changed the conversation quickly, but Danielle was still smiling.

"Yeah man, sounds good – I want chocolate"

"Just wait til' the crowd dies down and I'll go get some"

"I can go for you" Danielle offered, though Edgar shot her a look that she was all too familiar with

"We can get it; you don't have to buy it for us"

"I wasn't offering to buy it for you Edgar. Actually I think you should shout me Ice Cream seeing as I've made dinner and lunch for the past day"

"Alright" he gave in easily, handing her a ten dollar note from the register "Two chocolate cones with double scoops and whatever you want"

"I'll be back" Danielle said, pocketing the note as she left for the ice cream run.

As she walked into the crispy night, enjoying the cold air on her bare arms she headed in the direction she thought the ice cream stand was. Danielle remembered walking past it once but she couldn't remember exactly where it was.

A couple of minutes later she had indeed found it.

_How in the world am I going to carry three of these back to the shop_, she thought to herself

"I thought you said you didn't go out on the Boardwalk at night?" Danielle jumped with fright, she turned to see the patch boy from last night and the week before, she shook her head at the coincidence.

"I don't" She replied honestly "I'm on an ice cream run for my neighbors and myself"

"You gonna' be able to carry it all?" he asked

"You know I was just thinking that myself" Danielle laughed

"I don't mind helping you out" he grinned while shrugging his shoulders a little

"I don't want to put you out" said Danielle

"I don't mind" he really did sound sincere "Really"

"Okay, as long as you don't mind, just give me a second and I'll order" Danielle turned back to the ice cream cart looked at the selection they had to offer, she walked towards the little cart once she had made up her mind "Can I please have two double scooped chocolate cones and a double scoop of strawberry and vanilla?"

The man nodded before getting the orders ready.

"You know I've never seen you around here" the mystery boy said, _I'm going to have to learn his name sooner or later_ she thought "How long have you lived in Santa Carla for?"

"Three months" Danielle met his gaze "What about you?"

"A lot longer than three months"

"Well that was a poor answer" Danielle laughed lightly, though the boy was still grinning slightly, it's like he was always grinning; Danielle thought it was quite cute.

"Couple of years"

"See? Now that wasn't so hard was it"

"That'll be six dollars ma'am" Danielle returned her attention back to the ice cream clerk handed him the ten dollars that Edgar had given her earlier, she let him keep the change. The boy took Danielle's ice cream while she carried Edgar and Allan's.

"I'm guessing by neighbors you meant the kids that run that comic shop?" he asked

"Yeah" She nodded, thinking of the two brothers "They're quite the characters. Where's your friend? Every time I've run into you you've been together"

"Who? Paul?" he asked

"Well, I'm not too sure know his name is"

"Yeah that's Paul you're talking about. I don't know, probably off scaring some poor girl"

Danielle laughed at his words.

The rest of the walk was quiet, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Danielle was enjoying the Boardwalk at night, it was so different from during the day that she couldn't help but enjoy all the fun and joy around her.

"So when you said you didn't go out at night, you've been around the Boardwalk at night before right? Apart from going to get Chinese and Ice-Cream of course"

"Nope" She answered honestly, his eyebrows rose at her response

"How can you live here and not have gone out at night? That's crazy"

"Am I missing out on all that much?" She asked

"Yeah, well maybe, it depends who you're with"

She fought a large grin at his words.

They both arrived at the comic book shop; Danielle giving Alan and Edgar their ice-cream and change, noticing automatically that they were eyeing the stranger who had helped her carry them all back.

"I'd introduce you but I still don't know your name" Danielle blushed slightly, glancing to the boy once more

"You never asked" he grinned, though one of his hands rose and blocked it slightly as he handed her the strawberry and vanilla ice-cream.

"I'll see you both later" She smiled at the brothers before heading towards the exit, the boy followed suit and before they knew it they were standing outside of the comic shop once more.

"Ah – look who it is! Girl-with-no-name!"

Danielle followed the voice and found who she now knew to be Paul, he was dressed exactly as he was the last time she had seen him.

"Hi Paul" Danielle smiled, taking her first sample of the ice cream she was holding

"Well that's just not fair" Paul frowned "Marko have you been gossiping about me?"

Marko. His name was Marko.

"Me? Nah" Marko shook his head "Never"

"Well I still don't know your name and it's unfair that you know ours" Paul grinned, throwing an arm around Marko

"Danielle" she said "My name is Danielle"

"Lovely name, suits you" Paul nodded.

Danielle didn't really know what to do now, she was never great at making friends or conversation for that matter.

"Well, it's nice to know your names, and nice to see you without having to run into you and everything, I guess I'll be off"

"You're not joining us?" Paul pouted "Why not?"

"I-" Danielle paused "We just met and you'll soon find me to be incredibly boring I'm sure of it"

"Yeah you do! We've run into each other, twice might I add, so of course we know each other. You should let us be the judge if you're so boring or not"

"Let us show you around" Marko said "C'mon, you haven't been out here at night before and I don't think you're gonna go get yourself kidnaped or murdered with us around are you?"

Paul snorted at Marko's words; Marko elbowed him in the ribs in return.

"Okay, why not" Danielle smiled

"Great!" Paul said

"Let me bin this first-" Danielle rushed over towards the nearest bin, trying to think of an excuse to go back to her quiet apartment and to her unfinished book – though she'd read it before. Twice.

"C'mon, don't want you changing your mind" Paul said, steering Danielle away from the comic shop and towards the heart of the Boardwalk – the crowd was starting to grow bigger as they continued on their way. Danielle was silently thanking Paul every time he pulled her back when towards him whenever she started to get lost in the crowd.

"Carousel?" Marko asked

"Carousel" Paul grinned, steering Danielle in the direction of the large Carousel.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination and when they did Paul pushed his way to the very front of the line.

"You shouldn't cut lines Paul" Danielle tried to suppress her grin "It's not very fair"

"Don't stress, they won't say anything" Paul scoffed, sounding very sure of himself

"You're very sure of yourself aren't you?" Danielle asked, though Paul only grinned in return and offered no reply.

When it was their turn to ride the Carousel Paul lifted Danielle up by the waist and sat her down on the horse like she weighed absolutely nothing. Danielle let out a little squeak at the sudden action.

"Calm down" Paul laughed, he was leaning against the horse she had been seated on with Marko flanked on the other side

"I'm calm, but a little warning never hurt anyone" she laughed

"I'll remember that next time" said Paul

"Who says there's going to be a next time?" she asked

"Ah you won't be able to get enough of us" Paul shook his head

"And you're so sure of this?"

"Definitely" he winked, Danielle laughed at his playfulness.

_How did I even end up here_? She thought, _out at night with two boys I can barely say I know. _

It's not that Danielle wasn't looking forward to the carousel ride; she just thought it a little childish. But she found herself enjoying all of the colours, the laughter and the scenery flying by around her.

"C'mon girl" Paul went to lift Danielle down from the horse but she had jumped down without his aid, he rose an eyebrow at the action and shrugged before grabbing her hand and pulling her off the Carousel, leading her towards the band that was playing tonight down on the beach. Every Saturday night a different band played down on the sand, tonight it was a rock band that Danielle didn't know the name of which was no surprise seeing as she rarely enjoyed music by itself let alone rock music.

Paul was nodding his head to the music and jumping from one foot to the other along with the beat, he looked completely in his element.

"Don't mind him" Marko spoke up, he had barely spoken since Paul had joined he and Danielle earlier "He's strange, but you get used to it"

"Heard that Marko" Paul called over the music "I'm not strange"

Marko rolled his eyes while Daniele laughed – though both of the boys stopped in their steps quite suddenly, a look of deep concentration broke across their faces. They had seemed to have turned into statues.

"Hello?" Danielle asked, she received no response from either of the boys.

A moment later they shook their heads in sync, obviously coming back to their senses.

"Sorry" Marko grinned "Lost in thought"

"I seemed to have joined him" Paul laughed "Though I hope it wasn't about the same thing, that'd be crossing a few lines"

"Stop man" Marko shook his head "Just, stop talking"

"You wanna meet the rest of the gang?" Paul asked, Danielle grew nervous at the thought of more new people

"Um-"

"You'll be alright, I mean you've already half met when you think about it" Paul interrupted, though Danielle couldn't remember meeting anyone else apart from the two were already in her company

"When did such a thing happen?" She asked

"When I ran into you that night, David and Dwayne were there as well"

"I didn't take any notice of them" Danielle said, she couldn't picture what they looked like, the only thing she remembered about that encounter was being knocked to the ground and Marko and Paul's faces

"It's all good, can't blame you" Paul grinned widely

"Well, you did run into me" Danielle laughed

"I was talking about how you were obviously distracted by my devastating good looks girl" he grinned, Danielle shook her head and swallowed her laughter

"You're definitely delusional then" Danielle replied, smiling as she caught Marko's little hidden smile.

"Well, well, I didn't think we'd be seeing you around again" Danielle looked into the direction of the new voice, there was another boy with spiky white hair and was dressed in a large coat that covered most of his body, he looked Danielle straight in the eye and it felt like he was reading her like a book.

"I wish I could say the same to you but I apologies, I don't recognize you" Danielle confessed, offering the newest boy a small smile

"Names' David – that's Dwayne" he pointed to Dwayne who was standing just a little behind him – a tanned boy with dark hair, his bare chest was only covered by a denim jacket.

"Danielle" She said, introducing herself to the other two boys

"Well it's nice to meet you Danielle" David said, his tone was flat with no emotion, it was hard to decipher "And what exactly have you all been up to on this fine night?"

"Giving Danielle here a tour of the Boardwalk, never seen it at night before" Paul explained

"Really Danielle, now that's interesting, and how long have you lived here?" David asked

"Three months" Danielle smiled.

If David's blank and forward façade bothered her she didn't let it show, something David thought was quite interesting.

"And you've never been out at night before?" his eyebrows rose "I find that hard to believe Danielle"

"Only if I'm in dire need of food" Danielle shrugged "Other than that I avoid the boardwalk at night"

"Why?" he asked bluntly

"Too many disappearances" Danielle replied simply and politely with a simple shrug of her shoulders "I would prefer if my name didn't end up on the list of never-ending disappearances"

"Smart girl" David nodded, a smirk playing on his lips

"I like to think I am" Danielle smiled "Anyway, I should be heading off-"

"But we didn't get to give you the full tour" Paul pouted

"I can't do roller-coaster" Danielle smiled, turning to face the tallest of the three blondes "They make me feel funny, but thank you for tonight, it was fun regardless"

"I'll walk you back?" Marko offered

"You've done more than enough for me tonight, but thank you for everything" Danielle smiled at Marko and gave him a little wave goodbye before turning to the two boys she had just been introduced too "It was nice meeting you both, maybe I'll see you around again sometime"

"You too Danielle" David said, still with that blank look on his face.

The girl smiled regardless, his demeanor seemingly not affecting her whatsoever.

**-0-**

**Review Responses:**

**PoisonBones:** Thank you, I'm glad you liked the first chapter. I love Marko's jacket! If I had the money I would definitely buy a replica.

**AnnieK1994:** I will update as soon and as much as possible, though I didn't think this would receive this much good feedback, I better kick start this story into gear : - )

**BeautifulResurrection:** I know that feeling when you get into story and it's left half completed, I will try my absolutely hardest not to do that!

**ZoopBooper:** That means so much to me as I am very self-conscious of how I write, thank you very much! I will update as much and as quickly as I possibly can.


	3. Shoplifters

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Three:** the Shoplifters  
**Words: **3,073  
**Notes:** A massive thank you to all of those who reviewed this story! I am going through a little writers block with this story already and I am freaking, I have no idea how to get it to where I want it to go! But I'll figure it all out and I'll keep posting I hope you enjoy the latest chapter, a little shorter, and I'm not perfectly happy with it but it will do for now.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys, but I really wish I did.  
**Shout Outs: **ThePhantomismyLove, Freax and PoisonBones for reviewing, thank you all c: Also to all those who added this story to their favourites and now follow, words can't express. 

**-0-**

"Who was he?" Edgar asked, not letting go of the subject he had raised

"Marko" Danielle replied with a small smile for the third time

"Yeah but _who_ was he?"

"A boy" She laughed, turning the page of the X-Men comic she was currently reading

"How long have you known him for?"

"Technically about three weeks, I'm not sure, I don't keep track"

Danielle hadn't seen any of the four boys since the week before though it wasn't like she went out looking for them. She still stayed in her apartment most nights reading her books and even drawing in her sketch books a little more since her recent rediscovery. Marko and Paul were funny but it wasn't like Daniele was going to suddenly go out every single night and look for them, she still had her precautions about the nightlife in Santa Carla and they weren't going away anytime soon.

_Though having more friends would be nice, friends my own age, _she thought to herself, not daring to say it aloud in case she offended either of her neighbours.

"That's not very long" Edgar frowned

"No, I guess it isn't" Danielle smiled softly, glancing at Edgar and giggling at his expression "Lighten up Edgar, it's a Friday night and you have no school tomorrow, you should be in a great mood"

"Edgar's never in a great mood" Allen shouted from somewhere in the store, Danielle laughed a little louder at the comment and shook her head at Edgar's attempt at throwing an empty water bottle at his brother's head.

"Do all your clothes have holes in them?" Edgar asked, Danielle looked up once more from the comic and followed Edgar's distasteful gaze to the hole in her jeans.

"They're good jeans" Danielle shrugged slightly

"Get new ones"

"But I like these ones; they're comfy and good quality"

"They have holes in them"

"Some people think that that's good fashion you know"

"Well they know nothing and it doesn't speak volumes about your appearance"

"It's the inside that counts Edgar, not the outside" Danielle smiled, thinking of all the memories she had had in the jeans she was wearing.

Danielle had bought these jeans in her first year of high school and they were the oldest pair that she owned. She had met a lot of old friends in these jeans, she had painted amazing pictures in this jeans and she had read great stories in these jeans.

"I'm going to get another one" Danielle smiled "I've finished this one-"

"Don't ruin the order!" Edgar shouted as Danielle walked towards the isle she was looking for but laughed at his words and recalled the last time she had accidentally messed up the x-men comics, Edgar was furious and didn't talk to her for a week after the incident.

Danielle replaced her X-men comic and decided to have a flick through Wonder Woman instead; she had always loved Wonder Woman. She had no idea what it was and she probably would never remember but Danielle turned slightly and noticed two boys, both covered in thick coats and were clumsily filling their large pockets with comic books. She wasn't a confronting type of person, or a mean one and if it were any other shop Danielle wouldn't have done anything, but this was Edgar's and Allan's place and she wasn't going to watch on as two people tried to steal their products.

She approached the two boys and cleated her throat, they turned and looked at her with their brows scrunched

"I'm sorry, but are you going to pay for those?" Danielle asked quietly, pointing to their pockets

"Pay for what?" One asked, he had cropped greasy black hair and not one but two nose piercings

"I saw you - you know putting the comics into your pockets"

"Don't know what you're talking about" the second boy laughed "Unless you wanna' search us personally sweetheart and try and find them for yourself"

Danielle cringed at the thought but ignored his words

"This shop belongs to my friends, you could be stealing anywhere else and I wouldn't care, but my friends run this place and it means a lot to them, please put the comics back"

"Or what-"

"Or I'll beat the shit out of you with my friend Betty here" it was Edgar, he was holding a titanium baseball bat in one hand and had it slung over his shoulder "So what's it gonna' be guys?"

The two guys emptied their pockets and were gone within the minute, mumbling and spitting words at Edgar and Danielle as they left.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Edgar mumbled, walking off towards the counter and putting the baseball bat down "I would have handled it, you didn't have to say anything"

"On top of running this place I didn't think you'd need anything else to worry about" Danielle shrugged "I just wanted to ease your burden"

"It's not a burden" Edgar denied, but Danielle didn't believe his words. Sure Edgar and Allan liked comic books but surely they'd want to do something other than work in a shop being as young as they were. They came home from school and opened the shop, they woke up early on their weekends and opened their ship, they stayed home from school and worked in the shop and thinking about it like that made Danielle just that little bit sadder for both of the brothers.

"Okay little frog" Danielle said, ruffling Edgar's hair as he did and laughing at his facial expression at the nickname she had given him.

"I feel like rice" Edgar announced

"Who's paying?" Danielle asked "I have no money on me but I can go get some from the apartment"

"We'll shout this time" Allan said, handing her a few crumpled notes from his pocket "You bought us takeout last time anyway, now we're even"

"Do you both want the usual?" Danielle asked

"Yeah" Edgar and Allen echoed

"I'll be back" Danielle smiled, waving at both of the boys before taking her leave.

It took Danielle no time at all to reach Ichi-Ban like always and it didn't surprise her when she entirely the dimly lit and saw that it was empty apart from the owners.

"Evening Minami, the usual for me, one Katsu Chicken with extra sauce and Teriyaki please - also keep the change" Danielle handed the women the few notes she had been given earlier and walked towards her usual booth, sitting how she always did.

Ichi-Ban was always quiet, even when it was occupied with people other than herself it was quiet. The last thing Danielle expected to hear was a loud shattering and a piercing scream. She opened her eyes and watched as the brick as it flew over her head, landing before the counter, shattered bits of glass were now ringing all over her and she ducked her so nothing would land in her eyes.

Minami had stopped screaming and Danielle finally opened her eyes, she saw that she was now surrounded by a pool of glass and stood to her feet carefully, brushing off little bits from her shirt luckily not nicking her hands as she did so. She hurried towards the counter where Minami was now ducked behind; she had one hand over her mouth and a few tears running down her cheeks.

"Minami are you okay?" Danielle asked, Minami didn't offer a respond and wiped the tears that had stained her cheeks "Here let me help you-"

"Aren't you just an angel?" Danielle turned to see the two boys from merely ten minutes ago standing inside of the door, the one with the greasy hair was laughing "Stopping us from stealing from you friends store, helping the lady to her feet, you must be a nice girl"

"A nice girl" the second laughed "Good one man"

Danielle she knew the chance of the two boys just happening to go to the same Chinese restaurant as her without coincidence was slim to none, she also knew the chance of either boys being the one to throw the brick through the window were very high as well. She had never been in a situation like the one she had currently found herself in and to be honest she was scared, who goes around throwing bricks though peoples windows without a care in the world?

"W-what in the world do you think you're doing? Did you throw that brick through the window? Did you follow me here?" Danielle asked, standing her ground and finding whatever courage she had while doing so

"And what if we did huh?" The greasy haired one asked, twirling one of his nose rings as he walked closer into the dead restaurant "What you gonna' do about it girly? You haven't got no baseball bat here, you got nothing here"

"Do you have no sense of respect? You can't go around throwing bricks through peoples windows it's completely discourteous and – and absolutely barbaric"

"Big words" the second nodded "You a smart girl and a nice girl, so what you doing in a place like Santa Carla huh?"

"Who cares what she's doing here James, you're coming with us" the first said

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Bo"

"I'm not going anywhere with you" Danielle said, though her words didn't sound as defiant as they had when she had said them inside of her head, her words were unsteady and her hands were shaking at her sides.

"You gonna' do whatever we say-" Bo said, pointing at her and taking another step closer "-or we'll just make ya' girly, we're being nice by giving you a choice"

"Yeah you tell her Bo" the second nodded "Easy way or the hard way"

"I'm not going anywhere" Danielle said "Who do you think you are? Your actions were completely inhumane and uncalled for; do you take pleasure in making other people miserable?"

Another thing crossing Danielle's mind was what if they had followed her here? That meant that the window was her fault and that sent a shock of guilt through her that made her feel absolutely terrible, it sat at the bottom of her stomach and refused to move. No, she didn't make the boys throw that brick through the window but they threw it because of their anger directed at her. If she hadn't had come here then the window would never had been smashed in the first place. Danielle vowed that she would pay for the broken window to be fixed in that moment, even if that meant that she would just have to go without a few things here and there for a couple of weeks to cover the expenses.

"Who do you think _you_ are huh?" Bo said, walking closer towards her and speaking each word louder than the last "You're a little rat, that's what you are and you are gonna' come with us weather you like it or not"

"You can't just – you can't just act like this-"

"I'm gonna' do whatever I want to do" Bo sneered, only mere feet away from her "Obviously you haven't lived here very long sweetheart, you don't know how things work around here, we do whatever we want whenever we want and nobody says a thing about it, ya' here me?"

"I – I hear you but that doesn't-t mean anything" Danielle stuttered, still holding onto what courage she had

"You gonna' make us drag you outta' here, we will" he nodded, he even looked a little excited about the idea "you ain't too hard on the eyes doll, I could think of a few things that would make do as an apology, get what I'm saying?"

His words sent a feeling of dread through Danielle, today had been such a normal day and now she was being threatened by two boys she knew would pull through on the threats they offered. Today was normal, it was utterly normal and now it had been turned completely upside down, she had no idea what she was going to do. Danielle didn't know how to fight; she wasn't a very good runner either which left her with practically nothing.

"You're disgusting" Danielle said, looking Bo square in the eyes "And if you think I'm leaving here on my own free will you have another thing coming to you"

Bo didn't look phased by her words at all and he ever smiled a little, right before grabbing Danielle by the arm and dragging her towards the exit. She struggled in his hold but it did no good at all, he was stronger and bigger than she was by quite a fair bit too. Not only that but his friend was now walking right behind them, even if she did happen to get one over Bo she would have to deal with James next. She had only bad feelings about what they could possibly do to her and if her thoughts happened to be right she would welcome being slapped around any day of the week.

"Hard way then huh" James laughed from behind them "I was hoping you'd pick the hard way, for a smart girl you ain't so smart"

"Compared to both of you I'm a genius" Danielle mumbled, the next second the echo of the slap she received could have been heard over the busy crowds of the boardwalk if anyone had happened to be around to hear it, Danielle cursed that Ichi-Ban just had to be off of the main strip and not on it. Her cheek stung and it even made her stumble a few steps though she didn't go far, Bo's hand was still clutching her left arm in a vice grip and she was sure it was going to leave a nasty bruise. Danielle never mouthed off, she wasn't sarcastic and she never thought her words aloud and she cursed the one time she did.

"She' a smartass too" James laughed "We got a winner"

"Yeah we might just have to keep her once we're done with her" Bo sniggered.

Danielle pulled and pulled, trying to break free from the grip that Bo had locked her in but it was absolutely no use. James was laughing even harder at her attempts to break free and Bo was looking like he had won the lottery. _This is why I don't leave my apartment, this is why I stay inside where it's safe, this is why bad things happen to people, this is why Santa Carla is the murder capital of the world, this is why I am so precautious, why didn't I just let them steal those comics?_

Her last thought stopped her in her tracks though Bo just pulled on her arm even more so she would walk. Would she have changed her mind if she knew this was going to happen? Danielle didn't know the answer to that. Edgar was hard around the edges but even so she did like the Frog brothers, they might have been younger than her and believed in the fairy tale that were Vampires but they were good kids and they were good friends. No, she wouldn't have taken her actions back because she knew how hard the brothers worked to keep that shop running, she knew how much school they missed out on and how many meals they went without, so no, she wouldn't have done anything differently then she had.

Danielle did not know where they were leading her, all that she knew was that there weren't many people around which was one of the worst things that could possibly continue to happen. She had never been to this part of the boardwalk before; the lights were slowly disappearing as well as the crowds and the loud cheers from the kids on the roller-coaster and carousel. Danielle knew that something bad was going to happen to her and she had absolutely no way to stop it from happening, in this moment she was absolutely useless and she had nothing, absolutely nothing. She had no idea what possessed her to do it, but with every bit of strength she had Danielle stamped on Bo's closest foot to her own. He howled in pain before letting her go, that was when she took her change and ran as fast as she could – she didn't run back the way she had come to deal with James but instead forward and into the unfamiliar.

She had read about chases in books before, but in real life it was so much different. At first she didn't hear the footsteps behind her, only shouting but afterwards the footsteps came and it pushed her to run just that little bit harder and faster. She saw that up ahead she could turn left or right, she opted right and hoped that she would come across the busier part of the boardwalk and get lost amongst the crowds. Danielle did not look back though she really, really wanted too and she did not trip over her own feet which was a surprise seeing as she could tell one of her shoelaces was undone. In books the authors write about adrenaline, but Danielle didn't think she had an adrenaline rush; the only thing that kept her going was the thought of what was to happen to her if she was caught. Luck must have been on her side for the first time that night because she could hear the crowds coming alive once more, lights were becoming more and more popular and the crowds were beginning to thicken once again. People stopped and watched her, stared at her as she ran through and around them but Danielle couldn't bring herself to care. The footsteps had died amongst the noise but Danielle didn't stop running, she couldn't bring herself to stop running or even turn around even when she had arrived outside of her apartment, slamming the door behind her and making sure it was all secured and safe. She couldn't help but think that they now knew where she lived and that they would be breaking down her door any second.

She forgot about the Chinese food, she forgot all about little Alan and Edgar and instead sat herself huddled on the couch, praying that she had lost the two boys in the crowd and that she would never have to see either of them ever again.


	4. Healing

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Four:** Healing  
**Words: **2,457**  
Notes: **Hey guys, I am so happy and surprised about all of the new followers this story is gaining! It's giving me a massive confidence boost for my writing and words can't express how much that means to me. Here's the latest chapter, I received amazing feedback on the last chapter which is awesome seeing as I was really, really wary about it especially the ending. This isn't a long chapter, just a little filler before I pick up on the next chapter which will probably be quite a lot longer, all you Paul lovers will be glad this chapter seeing as he and Danielle have a little chat. I hope you all like what I have in store for you.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Lost Boys.

**-0-**

Danielle's arm had a wicked bruise witch matched the one that had appeared on her cheek where she had been backhanded the night before, she had fallen asleep on the couch and had woken up from a dream she couldn't remember, though she knew it hadn't been a good one. She was so glad she didn't have work for the next two days though if the bruise on her face didn't heal, which she doubted it would in such a short span of time she would be tempted to ring up and call in sick for the week to give it time it needed. Calling in sick for work or buying makeup were the only two options she had and buying makeup wasn't really on top of her 'I want to do' list as she had no idea how to apply such cosmetics properly in the first place.

She ended up calling Edgar and Allan before she went to bed, lying and explaining that she had been simply been knocked over and had rolled her ankle in the fallout, she left a few bills under their apartment door to cover for the ones she had spent and had gone to waist. Edgar and Alan lived in the apartment below Danielle with their parents though Danielle had never met or seen either of them which only fused her worry over both of the boys. Sometimes she felt like their bigger and older sister to the two Frog brothers, constantly worrying about their state of health and their education and that was why she felt so bad about lying to them about what had happened the night before. For Danielle it didn't matter, she had been hit before and a lot harder than what she had received by that teenager named Bo the night before and she had pulled through that by herself, this time would be no different.

Danielle spent her Saturday drawing and re-reading Different Seasons by Stephen King, it was one of her favourite authors and books of all time and enjoyed the hours that it took her. Reading took her mind off of the events that had occurred the night before but at the back of her mind she was dreading finishing Different Seasons because she would then have to face reality. Could she afford to go the week without working? Yes she had money saved away but she was saving that for something else, she was saving that for after Santa Carla, if there was ever an after Santa Carla.

The Saturday dragged on and Danielle once again didn't notice that it had grown dark and that her stomach had started to growl, the thought of a Chinese run made her feel sick and opted for some plain noodles instead that had been sitting in her cupboard, the noodles had nothing on Ichi-Ban but it quenched Danielle's hunger for the time being. Now that she had finished her book and she had faced reality, Danielle found that she was now dreading sleep, awake she could distract herself with her books and her art but asleep she could do nothing to distract herself from what had happened as her dreams could do nothing but remind her and fuel her fears.

She tried very hard to stay awake for as long as she possibly could but yet again fell asleep on her couch in her exhaustion, when she woke up in the morning her breath was short and heavy as once again she had a terrible feeling about the dream she had just had, luckily Danielle couldn't remember a single second of it. Danielle felt exhausted even though she had slept nearly ten hours, she felt absolutely drained and was starting to think there weren't enough hours in the night for the type of rest that she needed.

Danielle didn't like this feeling, she never ever in her wildest dreams thought that she would be caught in this situation once more but here she was, terrified of sleeping and leaving the doors of her apartment to step outside. Everyone had always said she was the middle-man, never caught on either sides of a fight, the glue that kept everyone held together and the one that everyone just had to like because she was such a likable person. You could tell Danielle anything and she would take it to her grave, along with that she wouldn't judge you or hold anything against you and was one of the most forgiving people you could ever meet. Danielle very rarely thought nice things about herself, she rarely thought about herself at all in fact as she was usually putting everyone around her before herself and ever now she was still thinking about the brothers and how bad she felt about herself for lying to them and how bad they would feel if they saw her looking as she did. She was thinking about work and how bad it would be for business for her to show up with bruises decorating her skin at work and how her bosses would go out of their way to help her.

Sunday went very similar to her Saturday, Danielle started a new piece of art and after a few minutes of blind sketching she realised she had started to draw one of the patches she had seen on Marko's unique jacket, then she drew another and another until she had begun to draw the patched denim jacket itself. Danielle couldn't possibly remember every single patch but she improvised on certain parts when she needed too until she had completed her drawing, it had once again grew dark outside and her stomach was yet again growling with hunger. She was just about to cook some more noodles before she heard a faint tapping on her locked apartment door

"Danielle" Alan spoke from the other side, shuffling his feet as he did so with slight nervousness "Danielle, you okay? You haven't been down to the shop an Edgar and I were growing a bit worried"

Danielle felt twice as worse about herself as soon as she had heard his words; he was coming to check on her, Alan Frog had come to check on her and she felt awful as she was not about to go and open the door anytime soon especially to one of the brothers.

"Danielle, are you awake?" Alan said, knocking on the door once more and when Danielle didn't answer after a few more minutes he sighed before walking away and making his way towards his own place downstairs, hoping that she was okay as he made the journey.

"I'm sorry Alan" Danielle said to herself, looking down to her noodles "I'm sorry"

**-0-**

One thing that Danielle didn't picture was running out of food. She had called in sick for work, both of her bosses were more than happy to give her the week off to mend her 'strained ankle' but with all of the extra food she had been cooking for both of the brothers she hadn't been thinking about how much food she'd have left just for herself, which wasn't much at all as Danielle was now down to one packet of noodles, two bags of microwaved rice and a piece of chicken breast. She wished she had gone grocery shopping last week, but wishing was hopeless now and right now she didn't have enough food to last her through the morrow.

Danielle's bruises had begun to fade from a dark purple to a light yellow and with a few touches to her hair her cheek bruise was barely visible, she wore a long sleeved heather grey t-shirt to hide the bruise on her arm and her old pair or ripped jeans to finish her outfit off. She stopped at the door for a few minutes before unlocking it and ten more minutes later she found herself at the entrance to the apartment building, it was dusk outside and the boardwalk was just starting to fill, as much as she didn't want to go outside at night it was safer when there were lots of people around then none at all. Danielle counted herself lucky that the small grocery shop was close to where she lived along the main strip and also in the other direction of the Comic Book shop next door, the boys hopefully wouldn't even realise her leave.

Alan and Edgar had come back once more since the first time that Sunday, only once. It was before they were heading off to school and Danielle felt horrible that she had yet again ignored the brothers knocking at her front door, though she vowed to herself she would make it up to them both when the bruises had fully healed and faded.

She ventured out of the door and made her way towards the small grocery shop which could hardly be called a grocery shop, it was a tiny little store that had only the necessities but it would do until Danielle felt comfortable to venture out past the Santa Carla Boardwalk and to the nearest shopping district to get food she could cook and prepare herself. The walk only took her a couple of minutes and soon enough she was stocking up on eggs, bread, milk and bottled water. She paid for her purchases and smiled warmly at the worker before heading back out of the shop and towards her apartment building once more, she only had two bags but those two bags would do her until further notice.

When Danielle left her apartment building she had a far off distant thought about once again running into either of the blonde's she had become acquainted with and truly how coincidental it would have been if it were to occur, when a girl with bleached blonde hair knocked into Danielle nearly causing her to drop her bags didn't surprise Danielle, what surprised her was Paul with one arm around her shoulder and sending her a large toothy grin

"Danny!" He shouted in excitement "Where have you been girl? Haven't seen you in weeks, hiding in that apartment of yours no doubt huh"

"Something like that" Danielle laughed, looking to her feet awkwardly "How have you been Paul?"

"Good, good, when are we going to do that full tour of the boardwalk we were talking about? We barely got to show you half last time" Paul asked, though his blonde haired friend was growing annoyed at all the attention he was now paying the brunette

"Maybe next week, I'm booked this week and I wouldn't have enough time to do the full tour with the time that I have" Danielle smiled, the lie came easy of her tongue and there was no doubt in her mind that Paul would see through it, so it surprised her when he scrunched his eyebrows slightly at her words and wore a deep look of concentration

"You sure, not one spare hour or two this week?" He asked

"I'm sure" Danielle said "Next week though, I promise"

"Alright girl" Paul said, grin back in its place like nothing had ever happened "See you around all right?"

"See you" Danielle waved with her spare hand and smiled towards the girl before turning and making her way back home. She always ran into them, always, whenever she ventured outside of the four walls she called home she just happened to run into one of those boys and it made Danielle want to laugh, if she believed in such things she would have called it 'meant to be' or even 'fate'.

Another thing Danielle didn't count on was seeing Edgar outside of the comic book shop when she was walking towards her apartment building, before she could do anything he had already seen her and fixed her with a look that she hadn't seen in quite some time. Edgar made his way towards her, not looking happy at all as he did so

"What is going on with you?" Edgar asked "Alan has been worried, we've been to see you twice, you won't answer the door but you're up and walking around out here?"

"Come with me" Danielle hushed, pushing her way inside of her apartment doors "Come on, hurry up and don't, just don't tell Alan okay?"

The decision to tell Edgar wasn't an easy one for Danielle, but Danielle knew Edgar would handle it better than Alan would; she also knew Edgar wouldn't tell Alan a thing if Danielle told him not too.

Five minutes later Danielle had packed away her things and had tied her hair up and out of her face, she was sitting on her couch and Edgar was standing in front of her, glaring at the bruising on her cheek

"The guys that tried to shoplift, they caught up with me after I left to get Chinese. I didn't say anything because I didn't want either of you to worry; you know how Alan can be with these types of things" Danielle said, she wasn't going to talk about the full extent of the situation and what had happened and she hoped that Edgar didn't ask

"They did this to you?" he asked "You should have just said something Danielle"

"As I said before, I didn't want either of you to worry or blame yourselves, I can take care of myself" Danielle said, looking to Edgar and smiling "Seriously, I'm fine, I just didn't want either of you to see me like that"

"You worry about everyone else, you take care of everyone else and you pay no attention to yourself whatsoever do you?" Edgar asked, shaking his head slightly "You know, being selfless is a good thing but sometimes it's not so much of a good thing too you. I won't tell Alan anything but don't expect me to lie for you again you hear?"

"I hear" Danielle nodded, taking in the truthfulness of his words "I won't ask you to do this again, I promise"

"Good" he grumbled "I'm gonna' go, you, take care or whatever"

"I will" Danielle said, watching as Edgar made his own way out of her apartment.


	5. Fighting

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Five:** Coincidences  
**Words: **3,526**  
Notes:** Hey guys, I wanted to update sooner, but time is a bit of an issue at the moment and I'm still trying to figure out how to get where I want to go without rushing everything. I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter and thank you all so much for the ongoing support this story has received.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys.  
**Warnings:** Nothing kinky yet fellow readers, just a language warning for the upcoming chapter.

**-0-**

Danielle couldn't help but smile as she woke up on Monday morning and looked in the mirror, noticing that the bruise on her face had completely faded, the one on her arm was still that little bit visible though she didn't see that as a problem as a cardigan could fix it easily. As promised Edgar hadn't said a word to Alan, Danielle still felt awful about lying to one half of the Frog brothers but it was necessary, or at least that's what she kept telling herself over and over again.

Danielle dresses in her work clothes and brushed her hair up and into a ponytail, stepping into her shoes just before she left her apartment and closing the door behind her. She greeted the Frog brothers as they made their way to school and she couldn't help but smile at Alan Frog who she had missed quite a lot over the past week, Edgar was still acting quite cold around her but that was to be expected, though Danielle knew deep down if it was the other way around Edgar wouldn't have acted any different than she had.

She arrived at work five minutes early as usual and greeted her bosses who were glad to see her back, even though Danielle worked tables every day to make a living and most wouldn't find it quite suitable she had missed working, there were only so many books that you could re-read over and over again. During her week off Danielle drew yet another drawing of Marko's patched jacket though after the second she put her book away and vowed not to pick it back up again until she had the particular image out of her head, it wasn't a bad thing and at least she wasn't drawing Marko himself but she still thought it a little strange and would be absolutely mortified if he were to ever find out. Danielle's shift flew by in the blink of an eye, usually the diner wasn't at all that busy during the day but today she found it relatively eventful, before she knew it the little clock on the far wall read 5:00 but to Danielle's dismay Gemma had not arrived yet. She waited a few more minutes and still no Gemma, her two elderly bosses waved the no-show off and gave Danielle a friendly smile

"You go on dear" Anna said "Don't you worry"

"It's picking up" Danielle insisted "I wouldn't feel right leaving the two of you here by yourselves"

"Well, if you'd like you can stay til' six thirty, that's when Tina is coming in" said Jeremy "But only if you'd like"

"That's fine" the younger girl smiled, though deep down a small voice in the back of her head was whispering about nightfall and it was enough the make the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight. Danielle had not been outside at night since she had gone to get groceries the week before and she was not planning too for just a little while longer, of course she would have to face the night sooner rather than later but she thought that she would have just a little more time.

Danielle was slowly dreading the leave she would have to take at 6:30 and the fact that the diner had indeed grown even busier as the time grew late made time itself go by even faster than it had been while she had been working during the day. Every few minutes or so Danielle would glance outside and notice the sun setting, she kept glancing until the sun had set completely and the only lights that lit up the boardwalk were the lights of the Carousel, the roller-coaster and the lights that lined the streets.

"Thank you dear, you should go" Anna shooed "You've done enough for the day"

"Okay" Danielle nodded, forcing a small grin on her face before she collected her bag and slowly took her leave "I'll see you both tomorrow"

"We'll be here sweetheart" Anna waved "You have a nice night alright"

Danielle stepped out into the busy Santa Carla boardwalk and breathed it all in before making her way hastily back towards her apartment building, she kept to the middle of the crowd and made sure she was surrounded by people at all times and at the same time kept her head down so that she didn't have to look at people's faces as she walked on by. Danielle didn't stop once and the only time she lifted her face was when she had to see where she was going, luckily she knew the route very, very well by now and only had to do so a few times. She made it to the comic shop within minutes but the one thing she wasn't counting on was Paul and Marko leaning against the outside of the comic shop, as soon as she laid eyes on the pair they both looked up and met her gaze

"Hey girl" Paul greeted with the large grin he always seemed to wear "You said that we'd do the rest of that tour this week, so here we are"

"Oh" said Danielle in surprise, she had forgot completely about the promise she had made, let alone that Paul himself had even remembered in the first place and that he was here right now with Marko waiting for her "I just got off of work"

"We'll wait" said Marko, arms crossed with that crooked grin set on his face "Unless you wanna' come dressed like that"

Marko's words made Danielle smile; she bit her lip slightly before meeting his eyes

"I'll go up and change" she said, fishing for her keys out of her bag and making her way up to her apartment. Once she was inside she stripped out of her uniform and slipped into her favourite pair of ripped jeans but stayed in the singlet she wore under her work uniform and opted to keep the cardigan to hide her arms away from the two boys. Danielle slipped into her boots and made her way back down once more, smiling at the two boys who were still leaning against the comic book shop and waiting patiently for her arrival.

"Alright let's go" Paul grinned "And the tour begins, we made it to the Carousel last time but this time we gotta' check out the rollercoaster"

"I don't do rollercoasters" Danielle said

"I know, I know, but we gotta' check it out anyway" Paul insisted

"No point arguing with him" Marko said from beside her "You'll never win"

"That you won't" Paul shouted from ahead of the two.

Danielle didn't think she was going to have a bad time she just thought it was going to be a little awkward because she didn't know either of the boys very well, she was happy when her thoughts were proven wrong and she found that she was soon enjoying herself with Marko and Pauls' company. Paul cracked jokes often and his personality itself was enough to make Danielle want to laugh, he flirted with every second girl he saw and most of them fell for his charm and good looks immediately. She thought that Marko was incredibly kind and polite, Danielle found that she enjoyed having conversation with him and after a while realised she talked more to Marko on the tour than she paid attention to the tour itself.

"Do you even read comics?" Marko asked

"I like wonder woman – hey, don't give me that look, she's a queen in my eyes" Danielle laughed

"Hey, I wasn't giving you a look" the blonde defended, though his cheeky smile spoke otherwise "I was just surprised that's all"

"X-men as well, I enjoy x-men"

"Ah, so you _do_ have taste after all"

"I have taste" Danielle defended lightly "Wonder Woman is great taste"

"If you say so-"

"Hey, when you're both done flirting" Paul shouted, Danielle felt herself flush at his words and Marko shook his head at his friends' words

"Well, we're done now" Marko said and Danielle didn't think she had ever been more flustered in her life "What do you want"

"Nothing" Paul shrugged, though he had a little twinkle in his eye as he eyed his friend with the girl

"You're an ass" Marko said, shaking his head once more "Go find some Barbie to entertain yourself with"

"That's a good idea man but annoying you is a better one" Paul shouted, weaving his way backwards through the crowd "And we haven't even finished the tour yet!"

"We've been going in circles for the past half an hour, you have no idea what you've even doing man" Marko laughed, wrapping one of his arms around Paul's shoulders "No idea"

"Marko, I am a profession tour guide" Paul grinned "A professional, you hear?"

"Oh I hear" Marko nodded sarcastically "One of the best in the business, you should get paid for your fantastic services"

"That's what I think" Paul laughed

Danielle watched on as the boys swapped their playful banter, it made her laugh and the weariness about going outside after nightfall had slowly slipped away until she had nearly completely forgotten. She had not thought of the incident since she had stepped out and began her 'tour' with the boys and if you had asked her why she wouldn't have been able to tell you, maybe it was because they were so new that the both of them and their conversations took up most of her mind or maybe it was something else entirely. The three continued to walk around the boardwalk as the crowds grew larger and larger, Marko and Paul would muck around and Danielle and the boys would talk about anything and everything, from likes and interests to questions Danielle had no idea where they could have possibly come from

"Vampires or Werewolves" Paul asked, shooting Marko a large grin

"Vampires" Danielle smiled

"Why" Marko asked seriously, though Danielle wasn't fazed by his sudden change in demeanour

"That's a long answer" Danielle admitted "One of the reasons being I always preferred vampire books over werewolf books, another being that there are so many different stories to vampires, you kind of don't know what ones to believe you know. Can they actually walk in the sun? Does garlic really affect them? Does a cross even work? So many different stories contradict the laws of vampires and I find that quite interesting. I also like the idea of a vampire more than a werewolf, I mean; vampires don't uncontrollably turn into beasts on a full moon do they"

"That was a long answer" Paul noted, Danielle smiled in response

"But vampires are beasts too" Marko said seriously "They hurt people, they kill people too"

"They do, but at least they have some control over it" Danielle said, meeting Marko's gaze "As a vampire, really you could pick anyone to feed on, I'm sure that a vampire would be able to pick someone relatively bad to feed on, to kill if they had to. Vampires are seen as evil creatures by default but I don't think that's very fair, what happened to them might not have been their choice; they might have even been dying when they were turned and becoming a Vampire was the only possible option to save them. I know I'm rambling but I don't know, I defend what I feel strongly for"

Marko was left speechless at Danielle's point of view and even Paul had no idea what to say in return, all they could do was follow after her as she took the lead in walking around the boardwalk and share a knowing glance with each other before asking the next question

"So why are you here?" Paul asked "Runaway central, Santa Carla, murder capital of the world"

"I needed a change" Danielle smiled, shrugging her shoulders like it was any other topic of conversation "What about the both of you?"

"Seemed like a good idea" Paul grinned

"How long have you known each other?" Danielle asked

"A while" Marko laughed "Quite a while"

Danielle knew they were being vague but she didn't grow frustrated as others might have as she herself could be quite vague when answering questions about her life before Santa Carla.

"What else" Danielle asked herself "Favourite hobby"

"Surfing" Paul said, Marko snorted at his answer

"You surf?" Danielle asked

"I do" he replied proudly

"I didn't picture you as a surfer" Danielle said honestly "When I first saw you I thought you were a model for sure"

Danielle didn't say the words to be funny, she was simply being honest, what she didn't expect was Marko's laughter and Paul's annoyed look. Paul slapped Marko across the back of the head but it didn't detain his laughter in the slightest, eventually they ended up play fighting in the middle of the boardwalk leaving Danielle to watch on in amusement. Danielle ended up laughing lightly at the show before she caught the eyes of an all too familiar face of James, one of the boys from the incident that had occurred last week. In the blink of an eye he was gone but Danielle knew she wasn't seeing things, she knew what she had saw and she knew without a doubt that James had gone to find his friend Bo.

"What's next" Danielle asked nervously, both of the boys stopped what they were doing and looked at her curiously "Surely theirs more that I haven't seen"

"Sure" Paul nodded, eyeing Marko before continuing their way through the thick crowd.

Danielle shoved Bo and James to the back of her mind and forced herself to pay attention to the conversations she was having with Marko and Paul, she refused to think or even picture either of the boys from the week before.

"Favourite type of flower" Marko asked, Paul said something under his breath at the question which Marko responded with a slap to the back of the head

"Tulips" Danielle smiled, barely holding back her laughter at the boys' behaviour towards one and other "They've always been my favourite"

"Favourite type of food" Paul asked

"Chinese" Danielle said but as she spoke the words she couldn't help but remember the shattering of the glass window and that she hadn't even been back since that night, even though she vowed she would pay them for the window which had been her fault. Danielle suddenly felt terrible once again and had absolutely no idea when or how she was going to set foot back inside of Ichi Ban.

"You okay?" Marko asked, Danielle shook her head clear and met his eyes

"Of course" she smiled "Favourite drink"

Paul laughed loudly at her question and Marko grinned knowingly towards his friend

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you girl" Paul laughed "Next question"

"Okay-"

"Who the hell do they think they're looking at?" Paul asked, eying the two boys

"Man, just leave it for later" Marko said, following Paul's gaze and finding the two boys that were openly staring "Don't start something"

"I won't start something if they look somewhere else" Paul said, narrowing his eyes at the boys who were still staring.

Danielle had grown quiet upon seeing the two familiar faces and shrunk back a little, she had hoped that she could lose James in the crowds but luck obviously hadn't been on her side. Bo and James stood staring at Danielle with knowing looks, now not only did they want revenge for them getting caught shoplifting but they now also wanted revenge for her getting away. She had no idea what she could possibly do right now, she didn't want to rely on Marko and Paul to get her out of the situation and she didn't want to bring them any harm because of her, for what she had gotten herself into the week before.

"I need to go" Danielle said "I have to go, I need to get back to my apartment I'll see you both later"

She turned and tried to walk into the crowd but didn't count on somebody holding her back, she turned to see Marko looking at her with confusion in his eyes

"What's wrong?" he asked, but Danielle was not about to open up to him

"Nothing, I'm just really tired" she lied, glancing to where his hand was holding her arm, funny enough it wasn't too far from where she was bruised

"You sure?" he asked, taking her in once more and Danielle thought that he was reading her like a book at that moment with the way he was looking at her

"I really need to go" Danielle said as calmly as she possibly could

"What are you staring at?" Paul shouted suddenly "You got a problem?"

"Is it because of those guys?" Marko asked "Danielle c'mon, they won't do anything"

At that moment Danielle couldn't help but think about what had happened the week before and think about how wrong Marko was in that moment. She peeked around Marko and saw that Bo and James were making their way towards Paul with haste and a look of determination set upon their faces

"Do you know them?" Marko asked seriously, taking a step towards Danielle, his hand still sitting on her arm "Danielle what did they do?"

"Nothing" Danielle said as firmly as she could "I don't know them I just, I need to go and I'm really tired, I'm just tired Marko"

"Look somewhere else" Paul shouted again, finally toe to toe with the two boys who had been staring at Danielle, though he didn't know that yet "What's your problem huh?"

"Danielle" Marko said "What did they do?"

Danielle had no words; she was too busy staring at Bo and James who were now facing off with Paul, Paul who had grown unnaturally quiet especially in the face of what could be a fight and Marko who now stood by his side

"Give us the girl" Bo said, pointing towards Danielle with anger "And we'll leave, we have unfinished business to get to"

"Yeah like we'd do that" said Paul "How do you know Danielle huh?"

"We had a run in last week" James spoke up "It was cut short though"

At that moment Paul turned to face Danielle, brows scrunched in confusion. He walked towards Danielle with determination and studied her face for a moment before grabbing a hold of her right arm

"Hey-" but Danielle's word was ignored as Paul shoved up the arm of her cardigan to reveal the bruising that she had tried to hide

"Did they do this?" Paul asked, staring right through Danielle "Did they? Did they do this to you?"

"Yeah they did" Marko said, taking a step towards Bo "That's why she's so on edge, that's why she wants to get out of here"

"What are you gonna do huh?" Bo asked "We'll beat the living shit out of you two"

"The living shit huh?" Paul asked, joining Marko's side "That's funny, that's really funny"

"It ain't gonna be funny when you're lying face down in a pool of your own blood asshole" James sneered "Well, to us it will be"

"What's funny is that you think you could land a single hit on either of us" Paul laughed "That's what's funny"

"Really" Bo asked, taking a step forward "That's funny huh"

"A fucking riot" Paul growled

"Give us the fucking girl" Bo shouted "I want her; I want to finish what I started"

"You're not going to land a single finger on her" Marko snarled "Try, I double dog dare you to even try"

"Sounds like a challenge, or maybe not" Bo laughed, taking a step through Marko and Paul to make his way towards Danielle, though he didn't get very far.

In a split second Marko had Bo's arm twisted around his back, it didn't look very painful but the cry that Bo let out said otherwise. Marko wasn't done though, he twisted Bo's arm even more and Bo let out yet another cry of pain

"Challenge huh?" Marko asked with anger "Not much of a challenge"

James only had the chance to take a single step before Paul punched him square in the face; he was flat on his back in the matter of seconds having been knocked out by Paul's right hook, Paul couldn't help but laugh at the boy before him

"Come looking for her again and you'll end up far worse than your friend" Marko sneered, twisting Bo's arm just a little more "Far, far worse, you hear me?"

"Y-yeah" Bo whimpered, as he finished Marko twisted once more and Bo let out a shriek of pain that you would have thought had come from a girl instead of a boy. Marko dropped his hold and Bo fell to his knees, cradling his arm next to his friend who lay knocked out beside him and looked towards Danielle who had been watching the whole thing while holding her breath.

"You okay?" Marko asked

"I'm okay" she responded.


	6. Stories

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Six: **Stories  
**Words: **3,061  
**Notes:** Hope you all enjoy the latest chapter, will be continuing right after the last chapter ended : - ) In this chapter we're going to go back into a little bit of Danielle's childhood. Thanks to all who keep reviewing and adding this story to their favourites, words can't express once again how much it truly means to me. I have a few other stories in store so I might not update every single week but I'm going to be trying my hardest. I have a True Blood story in the works and a Friday Night Lights one as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions if you're interested in either of those series'  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys, only Danielle and her story.  
**Warning:** Mild language throughout the chapter.

**-0-**

"You're a very convincing liar" Marko said quietly, standing by Danielle's side and watching on as Bo pulled James to his feet

"Anyone can tell a convincing lie if they try hard enough" Danielle said, she too was looking on as Bo and James made their way through the small crowd that had formed as the fight had begun "It isn't that hard, or well, I don't think so anyway"

"Trust me when I say that you're good" Marko said, turning to look at Danielle who refused to meet his gaze "I'm good at reading people, Paul is too, not for a second did we think that there was something up until, well, you know this all happened"

"I don't like lying" Danielle murmured "It makes me feel terrible, but I believe that if it's for the right reasons lying can sometimes be okay, I guess"

"Hey, I ain't judging" Marko shrugged "Trust me, I'm not, I'm just surprised I didn't see it sooner, that's all"

"Well that was fun, though I wished he coulda' put in a bit more fight, that was just embarrassing" Paul laughed, joining Danielle and Marko who had been standing off to the side "So girly, what was that all about anyway, you gonna' tell us what started all of that"

"It seems to me like you already know, you were the one that pulled up my sleeve and saw the bruising" Danielle shrugged, she didn't ponder on it too much though and smiled up to the taller blonde instead "So you tell me Mr. Right hook"

"It seemed obvious" Paul said, glancing to Marko quickly "There wasn't much to put together after some of the shit they said"

"You should have said something when we ran into each other" Paul frowned "This could have all been sorted by now"

"I don't like depending on people, especially ones I haven't known for very long. Wait, please don't take I personally-" Danielle began, taking in Paul's expression "I just, I don't like having to depend on people, and it doesn't matter, I've been through worse, I've seen a lot worse than what I received from those two"

"Sheesh girl, you talk like you get slapped around on a daily basis" Paul said, looking her up and down "And you ain't even, sad, or anything, you talk like it's something normal. That shit ain't normal"

"I have to go now anyway" Danielle said, smiling to Paul and ignoring the words he had just said to her, though they still struck a chord within her "It's getting late and I think I've had enough excitement for the night"

"I'll walk to back" Marko insisted "Don't think about declining the offer, I'm coming whether you like it or not"

"Okay" Danielle smiled, though she still wouldn't meet his eyes. Danielle was embarrassed and ashamed that she had to get Marko and Paul involved in her situation, she liked to handle things on her own even if they didn't work out very well most of the time and most of all she hated being a burden which is what she felt like right now. She walked by Marko's side through the boardwalk and ignored the stares she was receiving with ease, she hardly noticed them at all in fact as her mind was still buzzing over the fight that had only occurred five minutes ago.

"You know, it's okay" Marko began "You're not like, weak, or whatever it is you must be thinking right now, don't go all quiet and embarrassed on me now alright? What happened back there happened and there isn't any changing that, Paul and I sorted it and if we find out they do anything else we'll sort it again. We made the decision to fight and we'd do it again, so don't worry"

Danielle took in his words and couldn't help but smile at how sincere he sounded, she looked to him and met his gaze for the first time since they had begun walking together and smiled even brighter. She took his words to heart and soon found that the worry came less and so did the embarrassment, maybe she could call Marko and Paul friends after all.

"You seem to know exactly what I'm thinking" Danielle smiled "And it's amazing"

"Amazing huh" Marko said, though he couldn't help but think about how little she really did know about him

"Yeah, it really is"

"You said that uh-" Marko cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to figure out how to bring up the conversation, if he should even do it in the first place "That you received worse, that you saw worse. You wanna talk about it?"

Danielle didn't talk about her life before Santa Carla, but it wasn't because she didn't want to, it was because no one asked. Edgar and Alan were still young, not children but young enough and didn't think about the serious questions like older people did, like Marko did. Danielle turned to Marko and smiled sadly

"You want to come up?" she asked

"What?" he said in confusion

"We're back at my apartment, if you want to listen to me talk about how terrible things were before here I highly suggest we do it sitting down at least"

Marko didn't think twice before following inside and up the stairs, nor did he have to ask to be let in as Danielle greeted him inside as she opened the door. He couldn't help but think how silly she was for inviting someone like _him_ inside her apartment, but he pushed that aside quickly and decided that tonight he was going to be selfish.

"My life in Santa Carla is amazing compared to how I used to live" Danielle smiled, looking over her tiny apartment which she had truly grown to love "I've always been like this though, I've been described as too kind for my own good which apparently isn't a good thing all of the time, in my old life it wasn't, not really anyway"

"You know you don't have to talk about it" Marko insisted "I mean, don't get me wrong I'm all ears but, I don't want to make you er, uncomfortable or anything"

"I don't mind talking about it, I feel like I can put my trust in you" Danielle smiled before taking a seat, Marko chose to lean against the wall opposite her instead of the spare seat beside her "My mother was never a nice person, she was very vindictive, hurtful and cruel at the best of times. She had a severe drinking problem and before that it was a drug problem as well, though she insisted she was clean I never could truly believe her words. My mother grew angry and depressed when she drank, which was every single day, and I looked after her"

"That must have been hard" Marko said quietly, eyeing the girl in front of him and trying hard to listen to her words and not her thoughts

"At first it was, but then it just became routine. She would say horrible things, terrible things but I always told myself it was just because she was drunk and that she couldn't help herself. After a while she started cutting herself too, deeply and severely, she was in the hospital more times than I can count because she had done it that bad. After that she became violent and hostile towards me and I kept telling myself that it was alright, that I was okay and that my mother wasn't to blame for her actions. All of this was happening in front of my eyes and I saw it as normal, a normal day and a normal night. Not to mention the amount of men she bought back to our home, there was a different man every single week and each one she insisted that she loved. When the men she bought home started noticing me, which was when I knew I had to leave" Danielle paused, remembering packing a bag full of books and cramming in what clothes she could "Santa Carla wasn't planned, the lady at the bus shelter said that that's where runaways go, so here I am"

"You're happy" Marko said "How can you be happy? It's not the worst I've heard but it's still bad"

"Because I don't see a point in dwelling on the past" Danielle smiled "What good would that do? Would it make me a better person in the long run? Would it eventually make me happier if I was often sad? I don't think so. Many people deal with their problems in their own unique ways, I accept my problems and the things that happened to me and I moved on and I think that I'm a better person because of that" Danielle said, she didn't think she was making any sense and hoped that Marko could understand where she was coming from, growing suddenly nervous because she had just bared her soul to a boy, an attractive boy who was in her apartment with her

"I think that you're one of the most unique people I have ever met" Marko said quietly "And I have met a lot of people in my time, I can't compare you to a single one"

Even though Danielle dwelled on Paul's words about not being normal, they had been completely washed away by the ones Marko had just said because she had been called many things and many names in her time but unique had never been one of them.

**-0-**

"Homemade pizza" Alan asked with joy "That sounds so good!"

"I'll bring you both down some when it's all done cooking" Danielle smiled, looking to Edgar who still hadn't said much to her since he found out about Bo and James "Do you like anything particular on yours Edgar?"

"Whatever Alan has" Edgar mumbled before turning around and walking through the aisles of the comic book shop

"I don't know what you did" Alan said, confusion lacing his tone "I'm sorry for his behaviour"

"Don't be" Danielle shook her head, once again feeling awful about the lie she had pulled Edgar into "I'm sure he had his reasons"

"Whatever you say" Alan shrugged "It's just weird, you were both getting along, I mean I was pretty sure he had taking a liking to you once he realized you were alright you know?"

"I know" Danielle forced another smile, meeting Alan's gaze "Anyway I'm going to start making the pizza's, I shouldn't be very long, try not to snack out on candy while I'm up there okay?"

"Okay" Alan smiled, watching as Danielle walked from behind the counter and towards where Edgar stood, re-arranging the Superman comics

"I get that you're mad" Danielle said softly "And that's fine with me, but I need you to understand that I don't like getting people involved in my business, I deal with personal matters on my own. I'd also like you to think about what you would have done if you were in my shoes, would you have run for help from your two neighbours? I don't think so" and with that Danielle left the comic book shop and Edgar behind with a new outlook on the situation that had passed.

It had only been a few nights since the showdown between Marko, Paul, Bo and James and Danielle hadn't seen either of her two newly found friends since, but as she stepped out into the boardwalk the first person she noticed was David leaning against the shop wall opposite to her and staring in her direction. Danielle smiled and waved slightly before heading next door and into her apartment, taking no offense to the fact that he hadn't done anything in response and not waiting around to see if he might have done. It only took her half an hour to make the pizzas and then she was on her way back down to the comic shop, hoping that Edgar had listened to her words and taken at least some of it in.

"Thanks Danielle, you're the best" Alan smiled before taking a slice and digging in, Danielle glanced towards Edgar and noticed he too was taking a piece

"Thanks" He said, meeting her eyes quickly before focusing on his pizza, Danielle smiled at the progress and she then too took a piece and ate it happily.

Danielle told neither boy about the fight that had occurred but she saw no need to, what would the news had done? Alan didn't know about the incident in the first place and she didn't think it would have affected Edgar either way, it had happened and it was over, that's what Danielle thought of the matter anyway. But to be honest, Danielle hadn't thought about the incident that had occurred, the bruising on her arm had faded completely now so there were no longer visible reminders. The once thing that had occupied Danielle's thoughts over the last few days was what the morrow would hold, and that was Danielle's seventeenth birthday. It had been years since she had celebrated it and she knew that this year would be very similar, though Danielle didn't mind, she had gotten used to it being like any other day of the year.

"You seem to be thinking hard" Alan pointed out, shaking Danielle from her thoughts

"Just going over what I could possibly cook next, I don't' want to repeat too much" Danielle said with a smile

"Anything is fine" Edgar said "Better than carnival food at least"

"That is a good point" Danielle laughed, thinking of the times when all Alan and Edgar did was eat fast food, candy and ice cream. The thought still made her a little sad some days but she shook her head clear for the time being "Anyway, I'm going to head out"

"Out?" Edgar asked with a frown "With your new friends again?"

"No, I just want to go for a walk, that's all" Danielle smiled, which was the truth.

She had enjoyed walking around with Marko and Paul, the company was great for one but Danielle found she truly did enjoy the lights and the sounds of that the boardwalk held, the happiness made her happy and true, she was still a bit cautious about running into Bo or James but really, if she stayed in the popular and crowded areas she saw no reason not to go outside. Plus Danielle also knew that either of the troublemaker's would be silly to go after her again after what had happened with Marko and Paul.

"Okay then" Edgar nodded "Stay safe, don't talk to people you don't know okay, and we're still working on getting that stake for you, wait do you have any holy water? I can get you some-"

"It's fine" Danielle said, trying not to laugh at Edgar's commitment about Vampires "I won't be out for long anyway"

"I'm still getting you a stake" he mumbled, Danielle shook her head and went on her way, taking no notice of David who was still leaning against the wall across the street, having not moved and inch.

Danielle walked around the boardwalk for hours, sidestepping through the crowd as she did and taking in all of the colours, lights and cries from around her. The hour grew late but the crowd didn't wither, before she knew it had turned into the next day, but she gave it no notice. She continued to walk around until she started to notice the crowd fading and shrinking to smaller numbers before setting off back towards her apartment, waving to Edgar and Alan who were shutting down their shop as she passed

"Did you have any problems?" Edgar asked, frown present

"Not tonight" Danielle smiled "Goodnight boys, I'll see you in the morning before I go to work"

She glanced across the street, looking to where David had once stood before making her way next door and up to her apartment. She dressed into a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt before reaching for her sketch book and continuing a drawing she had begun the night before, funny enough, or so Danielle thought, it was another sketch of Marko's unique jacket, she had quite a collection now but didn't think about that fact for very long before going back to one of the many skulls that decorated Marko's jacket.

Danielle was interrupted from her work by a soft knock on the door; she glanced towards it expectantly and rose to her feet, wondering who could possibly be knocking at her door this early in the morning as it was nearly 1am. She opened the door slowly and blinked as she took in Marko's form, the surprise evident on her face.

"What- what are you doing here?" she asked "It's early"

"Yeah" Marko laughed lightly, running a hand through his hair awkwardly "Yeah, I uh, I saw that your light was still on from the street, I wanted to say, yeah could I actually come in?"

"Yeah" Danielle said without a hesitation, opening the door wider and walking back into the apartment "Just close the door behind you, please"

Marko did as he was asked, taking notice of the lack of clothing Danielle was dressed in before looking away from her legs and scolding himself lightly for his thoughts, locking the door behind him before looking to Danielle once more

"I uh, I was looking for you for a while, but I couldn't find you, on the boardwalk that is" Marko began "Your neighbours said you had gone out"

"Yeah" Danielle grinned "It was nice, to be alone with the crowd and all, kind of joyous actually. You said you needed to say something?"

"Yeah" Marko nodded "I uh, I wanted to say Happy Birthday"

"What" Danielle gaped, blinking rapidly over what she had just heard "How, how could you have possibly know that today was my birthday"

"Your neighbours told me" Marko shrugged "Anyway, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, I'm gonna' head off"

And with that Marko was gone, shutting the door behind himself once more and leaving Danielle to her thoughts that were completely running away from her in that moment. Because Alan and Edgar didn't know about her birthday, so how did Marko?


	7. Company

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Seven: **Company  
**Words: **3,837**  
Note: **Hello! I give you chapter seven! I am incredibly happy to write this chapter and I would like to thank **PoisonBones **and **tomieharley** for some amazing ideas for the upcoming story. Danielle and Marko will be hanging out a lot more from now on, they won't constantly be together but his presence will be more often in the story from this point forward. I'm sorry I haven't updates sooner but my Harry Potter fic needed a lot of attention and severe editing which has seen most of my spare time as of late. I hope you all enjoy what I have here, thank you all again for staying in tune with my updates **  
Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys.

**-0-**

Danielle kept herself busy over the next week of her life, she worked hard during the day at her job at the diner and when she arrived home she was cooking and preparing food for herself and her two neighbours. For the first day she indeed wondered how Marko could have possibly known when her birthday was, how he had known when her birthday was but it was soon pushed into the far corners of her mind and locked away with a key. Most people would have thought about it, questioned it or grow concerned over it, but not Danielle, she simply didn't care. He knew, and that wasn't going to change anything and Danielle left it at that.

She did not see Marko for that one week; in fact she saw none of the boys as she sat in the comic book shop with her book and her pencil though her attention wasn't really on the growing crowd outside. It was on the piece of paper in front of her which currently held a half completed drawing of Edgar Frog sitting in his favourite chair beside her

"I'd be disturbed if it was rubbish" Edgar grumbled

Danielle laughed at his words and shook her head slightly "I'll take that as a compliment then shall I?"

"Coming from Edgar, that's a compliment" Alan laughed, joining the two behind the counter and watching Danielle closely as she worked "Draw me next"

"Alright" Danielle smiled, anything to take her pencil and hand away from the lone book that sat upstairs holding many, many sketches of Marko. It was half of the reason why she was down here at the comic shop in the first place instead of upstairs in her apartment, whenever she was alone she ended up sketching his patched jacket that she had grown to love so much, or his face which always clouded her mind when she was alone. Danielle knew of the feelings that were growing for her new found friend but she refused to acknowledge them at the current time, she refused to even think about them especially in his presence in case she embarrassed herself more than she already had in front of him

"Isn't that one of your new friends?" Alan asked, looking towards the tall blonde who had just entered the shop and eyeing his choice of clothing sceptically "Seriously, what guy wears his pants that tight?"

Danielle just laughed, she knew that Alan would have to be talking about Paul seeing as he was never seen without those tight beige pants. She looked up to see if Alan was right, Paul was indeed standing just inside of the entrance with a huge smile on his face and began walking to where she sat at the front in-between Edgar and Alan "Hey girl, what's up?"

"Not much really Paul" Danielle smiled "How about yourself?"

"Bored" he frowned and before Danielle even had the chance to close her sketch book Paul snatched it from her grasp and started flicking through the pages "Not anymore – damn you're good"

Danielle laughed lightly as her two neighbours glared at his actions "What happened to please?"

Paul raised a single eyebrow and looked to Danielle with a smirk that sent shivers down most girls' spines and raised goose bumps on their arms "Do I look like a guy that uses his manners sweetheart?"

"No, not really, though you at least could have asked"

"You're really good, I mean, I didn't see you as someone who liked to draw, reading yeah but not drawing, never would have pictured it" Paul said, more or so to himself and ignored what Danielle had said to him completely "You know Marko has a thing for drawing too right?"

"Really" Danielle asked in genuine amusement, a smile lit her face at the news "That's, well, that's cool, is he very good? I can see him being really good"

"He's alright" Paul shrugged, though Danielle knew better than to take that as it was "He'd love to see these, man that eye in here is wicked cool"

Danielle grew nervous at the thought of Marko looking through her work, her drawings which she hardly let anyone see. Was there even a reason for it? She didn't think so, maybe it was because he would almost definitely be a lot more talented than she was, or maybe it was because she was just nervous about him somehow finding out about that folder-

"-Danielle" Paul clicked one of his hand in front of her face, successfully pulling her from her thoughts "Spaced out a bit, I'm heading off, you wanna' join?"

"I'm okay" Danielle smiled, thinking of the warm comforts of her couch, some hot chocolate and the thought of a sleep in tomorrow morning "I'm going to head back home soon anyway, another time though"

"You wound me" Paul frowned, holding his hand over his heart and laughing to himself quietly "You truly do girl. But I won't bug ya, not after our last adventure. I'll see you around yeah?" and with that Paul was gone, leaving Alan and Edgar ever so curious as to over what his words meant

"Last adventure" Alan asked curiously "What happened last time?"

"Oh nothing" Danielle smiled, looking to the younger boy "Paul's just being Paul"

"Right" Edgar scoffed "From what I heard, he got into a fight with these two guys twice the size of him, him and his other blonde friend. Were you their?" he looked to Danielle and starred her down, hoping that she wasn't and praying that she wasn't lying

"Must of happened after I left" Danielle frowned, she felt a pang in her stomach at her lie "I didn't see any fight"

"You really are heading up soon?" Alan asked, changing the topic to a lighter one "It's still only early, barely nine o'clock"

"Soon" Danielle nodded, picking up her sketch book and leaning it against her lap once more "But not right this very moment, I want to get a little bit more of this done first"

Over the next two hours Danielle worked on her drawing of Edgar, she had drawn him from his shoulders and up which left a lot of room for the small details she was currently working on. She drew in the red piece of fabric he always tied around his forehead and the details of his camouflages shirt he was currently wearing as well and not to mention the frown he always seemed to wear. His eyes, nose and mouth were drawn first as well as his ears before she moved onto his eyebrows and the intricate details of his hair. Danielle said she only wanted to get a little bit more done but over the next hour she had roughly sketched all of the details that Edgar currently wore, it was then that she would move on upstairs and go over the lines, make some more defined and shade it to her liking.

"Goodnight" Danielle murmured, thinking about the hours she was going to now put into the shading of Edgar's skin or the single strand's she would have to draw for his hair "I'll see you both tomorrow afternoon" as she moved towards the entry of the comic book shop she faintly heard both of the boys chorus their own goodbye

"I thought Paul was being sarcastic" Danielle turned to find Marko standing just behind her and looking down to the book she held in her hand, he glanced up a moment later and met her eyes "You draw?"

"I, yeah I do" Danielle smiled "And yourself?"

"Indeed" Marko nodded "Where are you headed now?"

"Home, I'm going to shade the piece I've been working on"

"Shading is my favourite part" Marko nodded "You uh, can I come up?"

His question caught her off guard but she smiled anyway "Of course, though I don't know how much fun I'm going to be, I get really into it when I draw"

"Nah, that won't be a problem" Marko grinned and followed as Danielle lead the way back to her apartment, but not before turning his head and eyeing the two young teenagers that were currently glaring in his direction "Your neighbours don't seem to like me very much"

"Edgar doesn't like anyone very much, to be honest" Danielle shrugged, though Alan was a different story "Alan though, Alan is sweet, I'm sure he's just curious about you"

"How have you been holding up?" Marko asked, following Danielle up the stairs and tyring his absolute hardest to keep his eyes off of her backside "Since, you know, all the shit those assholes put you through"

"Honestly, I'm fine. For a week or so after it happened I didn't want to leave the apartment at night but that's all good now" Danielle said, speaking truthfully about the incident and how it currently affected her "I haven't seen them since either, I have the feeling you've wanted to ask"

"I have" Marko nodded, walking into Danielle's apartment as she held the door open for him "You know, if you see them I'll – Paul and I will sort it out you really don't need to worry"

He's like a prince. That's what Danielle thought but shook her head a little and cleared those thoughts up as quickly as she could, no time for that now when he's standing in the apartment with you. But it grew hard for her to not think of him that way, Danielle lived in the now and knew that Marko wasn't going to come riding in on his white horse to protect her every time she needed it, but the thought of him wanting to help her, wanting to do that made her feel incredibly happy.

"Thank you, again" Danielle said shyly "You know, for everything you've done"

"Don't mention it" Marko said, meeting her eyes again "Seriously"

"Okay, well, I'm going to sit over there and head to work but, you can uh, make yourself comfortable" Danielle said, eyeing the couch and thankfully releasing a breath she didn't realise she was holding, the sketch book full of Marko was thankfully under the couch and hidden from sight

"I actually bought my own" Danielle watched on as Marko pulled a small, black A5 book from the inside of his patched jacket "Though, I admit I need to borrow one of your pencils if you have a spare"

"I, yeah of course" Danielle said, a smile gracing her face as she pointed towards her small dining table where her pencil case sat "Go through the case; you'll find what you'll need in that"

Not even five minutes later Danielle and Marko sat at either end of the couch and were sketching away at their own pieces, Marko was in a completely different world as he set to work but Danielle found it a little bit more difficult to concentrate as hard as she usually did. She found she was often looking over to Marko out of the corner of her eye and watching him as he sketched away onto the small book below; she enjoyed watching him, not only him but his hands as they set to work on whatever he was currently working on. She was fascinated by how calm and collective he was and how smoothly his pencil ran across the paper and how his thumb often smudged over a line he had recently drawn. Danielle realised after half an hour, when she had only shaded Edgar's nose that she was definitely not in her element while Marko was only sitting two seats away from her.

She was also thankful that Marko had taken no notice of her staring whatsoever; she had no idea what she would have done if she was caught. The thought of being noticed, or caught made Danielle focused on the drawing below her and she finally after nearly 35 minutes pulled herself into her element and set to work.

"What are you working on?"

Danielle jumped at how close Marko was, realizing he had scooted over a seat and was now sitting directly next to where she herself sat

"That scared me" Danielle laughed lightly, hoping to God her cheeks weren't as red as she thought they were "Um, my, Edgar my neighbour, I was running out of things to draw from my imagination so I moved onto people instead"

"You're very talented" Marko said quietly, one of his fingers ghosting over the work she had spent most of her day on "Can I see your other stuff? If you don't mind"

Danielle met Marko's eyes and shook her head slightly before handing him her sketch book and watched on as he slowly flipped back through the pages. Some of her work was only half completed and some only had the very rough sketches that really only looked like a bunch of random lines, though the completed work left Marko rather speechless. He could admit that he was good, he wasn't a modest person when he came to his art at all but he knew for certainty that Danielle matched his skill with as much grace and elegance that he also had. Danielle preferred to draw things from her imagination that much was obvious, most of the pages were full of some of the most peculiar work he had ever seen such as a very realistic hand clutching a brain within its palm. But her realistic drawings could match his own when it came to talent. Marko noticed Danielle's fascination with eyes almost instantly as they were popular amongst the pages, but that wasn't what made him flinch; no it wasn't the eyes at all.

When Marko came across an early drawing of what seemed to be a man at first he was absolutely fascinated with the amount of detail she had put it, especially the hair seeing as every single strand had been drawn in individually, he knew it must have taken her a very long time to complete. It was the small things that stuck out to him, the red eyes and the way they were drawn, the prominent cheek bones that stood out from a mile away and the two tiny fangs that were just barely visible form the tiny crack of the mouth. Danielle had drawn a man who was apparently a vampire on the page before him and upon the realisation he involuntarily flinched

"Are you okay?" Danielle asked, though Marko didn't meet her eyes

"Cold shiver" he said after a moment, looking away from the page and focusing back to the girl that was sitting beside him "Nothing to worry about. You're drawings though, they're amazing"

"Thank you" Danielle said quietly, her cheeks once more growing red as she accepted the compliment "Would you mind if I looked through yours?"

"Not at all" he said, reaching over and grasping his own before handing it to Danielle who grew excited at the thought of looking through the sketches.

Marko, she noticed, did not often draw from his imagination and preferred to stick with drawing the people and objects around him. Some of the pages starred his friends and she found Paul's to be her favourite as Marko had really captured the type of person Paul was on the page, charismatic and fun. David's drawings were always serious and Dwayne stoic, though often drawn reading from a thick paperback. The drawings she loved most were the ones of the boardwalk, especially the ones of some of the horses on the Carousel, he had put so much detail into the smallest of things that she even noticed the one she had ridden on her first night alongside Marko and Paul.

"I don't have the words" Danielle said lightly, flicking through the last of the pages "I just don't have anything, they can't express how truly amazing your work is"

"That is the highest compliment someone can receive, so thank you Danielle" Marko nodded, taking the small sketch book as Danielle handed it to him "That's not even my big one, wait until you see that"

"Big one" Danielle asked, her curiosity spiking

"I have an A-two size back home, rare to find them in stores but I was lucky" Marko grinned "I'll have to show you sometime"

"That would be amazing" Danielle grinned and nodded with newly found enthusiasm "I'd love to see some of your larger work, if you could put that much detail into a smaller book I can't imagine what it's going to look like on paper so big"

She hadn't even realised that she had said yes to go to see and visit where he lived, or that his words meant that he wanted to see her again. Such things slipped by without Danielle noticing but soon she was bought back to where she currently sat, still right next to Marko with both of their sketch books sitting beside them. It had been nearly an hour and a half since Marko first arrived and they had both spent that entire time drawing, and not really talking, so Danielle had no idea where to begin

"When did you start drawing?" Marko asked, Danielle was suddenly thankful for the topic starter and was more than happy to tell him about her art teacher she had truly loved in high school

"My art teacher, Mrs. Kelly was an amazing woman, she taught me everything I knew and I refused to have any other art teacher after than even if it meant staying in the lower classes. What about you?"

"Since I was a kid" Marko grinned, thinking back to that time long, long ago "Over time it didn't just become a hobby, it became at habit. I had a book on me at all times sooner than I knew and was drawing all of the things that meant something special you know, so I could have them with me forever. I guess you could say photography would have been easier but I like that you have to put real time and effort into finishing a drawing, it's a lot more personal than taking a photo"

"And a lot more harder" Danielle grinned "You don't strike me as the type of person that goes for the easiest option"

"You're right, I'm not" His words had a hidden implication behind them but Danielle did not seem to notice "Do you have any other hobbies?"

"I thoroughly enjoy reading" Danielle smiled, looking over to where her packed bookshelf sat "It takes my mind of things and pleasantly passes the time"

"I noticed that" Marko nodded "Looks like you need a bigger bookshelf"

"Looks like it" Danielle laughed

"You know" Marko began "You're not like the other runaways"

"And why is that?" Danielle asked, not knowing whether to feel sad or happy about his comment

"You know what you're doing, for starters. You have work, a place to stay that isn't on the streets and you seem pretty happy"

"Is that rare for around here?"

"You have absolutely no idea. Once you've been here for a while, as long as I have, you see people come and go with the blink of an eye"

"They don't call it the murder capital of the world for nothing; I guess" Danielle said, though a slight shiver went through her at the name "Why would so many people living stay here when they know that's what people call it"

"Bit hypocritical" Marko frowned slightly at her contradicting words "I mean, you live here, right?"

"Right, right, I get it, I mean I still don't really know why I'm still her to be completely honest" Danielle laughed "I used to think I was smart enough to avoid a situation like that but I guess I was pretty wrong about that"

"Everyone gets into trouble sometimes" Marko shrugged "Just gotta' accept it and move on"

"Also" Danielle said, remembering David from the week before "Tell David I said hi"

"David" Marko frowned, wondering why on Earth she would want to say hi to David for "Why?"

"Last week, the last time I saw you I noticed he was standing outside of the comic shop" Danielle began and Marko grew confused, and worried over her words "I felt a little, awkward I guess going over and saying hi when I don't know him very well, so I thought I'd greet him through you instead"

"He was outside the comic shop?" Marko asked, hiding his concern well under his curiosity "By himself?"

"Yeah, he was staring at me, maybe, I'm not too sure" Danielle shook her head "He can come off as quite intimidating"

"You don't seem very intimidated" Marko noted, taking Danielle in and watching on as she seemed as relaxed as possible without the hint of a worry

"I'm not" Danielle shrugged "My first impression of David was, how do I put it, he comes off as the leader type. He's straightforward and blunt and he won't beat around a subject. I think those are admirable traits, I see no reason to be intimidated by them because of that"

Marko took in Danielle's words with amazement and shock, never once had anyone described David in that way yet it was so close, so awfully close to how he really truly was. When people saw David they grew scared, and intimidated as Danielle had said before, they didn't admire him, at least not until they grew to know him which never, ever happened

"You, uh, are probably, no you are literally the first person to every say that" Marko laughed "I'm a little shocked at how accurate your words are, David is, he's hard to explain. He's intimidating for all of the right reasons of course but usually he scares people away which was why I uh, I didn't really want you meeting him so early" As soon as he said the words Danielle's stomach fluttered "Paul and I like having you around"

"Well, then I'm glad" she smiled brightly.

Danielle and Marko spent the rest of their night making small talk, very similar to like he had confronted Bo and James, the questions varied from the most serious of things to the most silly and Danielle couldn't help the smile that was permanently placed on her face.

"I have to get going" Marko said, looking outside through the window across from where they sat "We'll do this again though, I mean, I had a good time"

"Me too" Danielle said quietly, meeting Marko's gaze before she stood to her feet and walked towards her front door "Come around, whenever you like, I usually cook for the boys when I get home from work around five to six o'clock but I uh, I'm sure it wouldn't be too much hassle to make room enough for one more"

"I'd really, really like that" Marko said and Danielle fought the urge to jump at how close he was to her, again "I'll see you soon"


	8. Knowing

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Eight:** Knowing  
**Words: **3,187  
**Note:** I am so, terribly sorry for a late update, but things these past two weeks have been absolutely crazy! I have not disappeared though I received such amazing feedback from the last chapter, I'm so happy everyone liked it just as much as I did. **ALSO** if anyone is interested, I'm looking for someone to go over my chapters and edit them, kind of like a beta thing, I'm more than happy to keep going along how I'm going but if anyone is interested the chance is here. Also I'm going to start writing through a few people's different points of views; I think we'll get longer and more exciting chapters that way!  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys  
**Reviews:** RubyWaters: I think it does so too and the reason why Danielle started drawing the vampire was because of Edgar and Alan, as they are always hounding her about the fact that vampires happen to exist. That makes me incredibly happy! I hope you enjoyed the Harry Potter fiction I have going on as well, it's a bit farther along than this one is at the moment haha.

**-0-**

**Danielle** Jones, as much as she tried to keep it at the back of her mind, tonight it seemed she really, really couldn't, which was terrible seeing as Marko was going to be arriving in about twenty minutes. All night and all day all she could think about was how he could have possibly known her birthdate, she knew the gesture was sweet but she had suddenly grown curious upon waking up this morning. Danielle didn't think for a moment Marko was stalking her or anything, he didn't really seem like the type, but even more so why did he lie and say Edgar and Alan told him about it in the first place?

Questions ran through Danielle's mind as she busied herself making dinner, the menu for the night consisting of chicken chilli stir fry with a side of rice and only taking her twenty minutes to cook and serve. She really did love cooking; there was just something about it that made her at ease, not that she needed to be at ease of course, she was curious – not scared. Before she knew it she had served four bowels that were still steaming with heat and was heading downstairs with two for Edgar and Alan, of course, though she found she dropped both of the bowels as she opened the door and found Marko there with his hand raised and ready to knock

"Jesus-" she cried out, taking a deep breath and trying to calm her racing heartbeat "That scared the life out of me"

"You look pretty alive to me" Marko grinned, not even asking before he took both of the bowels from her hand "These are for your neighbours right?" and all Danielle could do was nod as she followed him in a daze as he carried the food for her.

Edgar and Alan Frog did not look pleased as Marko placed both of the bowels on the counter in front of them, Alan at least smiled but Danielle saw that it did not reach his eyes, Edgar on the other hand scowled and gave him a look that she was shook her head at in silence

"You again" Edgar mumbled, though the words didn't bother Marko at all in the slightest who wasn't even take the time to respond

"Thanks Danielle" Alan said, smiling truthfully in her direction "You don't have to do this you know, every night and all"

"Well, I don't want to see you both get unhealthy and all, eating pop tarts, ice cream and take out one night after another" Danielle smiled brightly

"Shall we go?" Marko asked, turning and looking to her with a small grin, the same small grin that Danielle found she loved looking at "Wouldn't want yours to get cold"

"Yeah" Danielle nodded, waving at Edgar and Alan before heading off back to the apartment once more to share a meal with the boy that was growing to be quite a good friend. Though at the thought she thought about the word friend a little bit, that's what they were, they were friends. She had never been more than friends with anyone in her entire life, truthfully she didn't really have the time or the interest when she had been in school in the first place, and there hadn't been a situation since then where she had to really think about it.

"So, what exactly did you cook for me tonight?" Marko asked, still wearing the same grin from before and still leaving the same effect that it did on her as it did before "Smelt like chicken"

"Chicken chilli stir fry, and rice" she smiled "I don't really know what you liked, but, everyone likes chicken"

"Uh-" Marko said with a pause and Danielle felt herself grow completely and utterly embarrassed

"I knew I should have asked you when we organised yesterday" Danielle said quickly, her cheeks heating up "I am terribly sorry, I'm going to make something else right now, I stocked up on food the day before yesterday and I'm sure I can come up with something else-" though she was interrupted by Marko laugh, not the soft one she had grown used to hearing but a louder, more genuine one that than ran through his entire body

"I couldn't-" Marko said, laughter still in his voice "I couldn't not, I am so sorry, the chicken is fine"

"You-" Danielle began, but she caught herself "You were joking? It's fine?"

"It's fine, I'm so, so sorry" Marko said, but his laughter said otherwise. Instead of growing angry Danielle found herself smiling, though she tried to shake it as soon as she realised "You know, I expected a bit of anger their but that smile says otherwise"

"I could be angry, if I wanted to" Danielle insisted, though her smile was growing bigger, still finding it utterly amusing that he even attempted to apologise while laughing in the first place

"I don't think so" Marko insisted, a knowing look in his eye as he took a seat at the small dining table "You don't strike me as the type to become angry in any situation, I don't think I could even imagine it"

Once again Danielle was left utterly speechless, because she felt like he was reading her like a book. She could not remember a time in her life where she had shown it, of course she had felt anger, but express it? No, he was right, it wasn't her at all. She grew upset, and sad, more often than not in situations where she should have felt anger instead.

"You're right" Danielle nodded with a small smile, setting the two bowels on the little dining table and taking a seat "I don't, well everyone feels anger of course, but I can't think of a time where I've ever expressed it"

"It's not a bad thing" Marko insisted, taking the first bite of his meal and supressing a small groan of satisfaction as the flavours hit his tongue "Some might say it's a good thing, a better thing even"

"I don't see what I'm missing out on" she laughed, agreeing with his words and thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when both Marko and Paul had sorted out Bo and James for her "I mean, for me, I don't see how anger could solve anything really"

"It solves some things" Marko said quietly, moving his free hand to caress where bruises had once marked her pale skin, the gesture as simple as it was sent shivers down Danielle's backside, which mad her even more confused as to what she felt for the boy sitting in front of her.

Marko. _Marko_. Danielle liked the sound of his name on her tongue that was for sure. Not only did she like his name she liked how he made her laugh, the little smile he more often than not covered with the palm of his hand and not to mention the patched jacket she had not once seen him without since the very first time she had seen him in that little Chinese take-out restaurant. She liked how he could make her blush, even though it embarrassed her more often than not and how he never said anything about it to embarrass her further. Not only did she like those things, but Marko was seriously good looking. He was shorted than the rest of his friends but still taller than she was, his baggy jeans hung from his hips and more often than not she had to tell herself not to stare, because she would be absolutely mortified if she was ever caught. His curly hair was long and Danielle knew it was soft, softer and lovelier even than her own. And his face, she couldn't even begin to describe it or what it was about him that made her stare, maybe his kind eyes or maybe, maybe it was all just the smile after all.

Not only was she unsure about her feelings, Danielle had absolutely no idea what _he_ saw in _her. _She wasn't vain, Danielle knew that some boys had noticed her; she just didn't understand what they had noticed in the first place. Her body was average at most though she was more than comfortable being the size twelve that she was, not flat but not curvy either, Danielle sat in the middle of the two. Her hair reached just below her shoulder blades and was a deep, dark brown, though it was plain, uncut and she found she wore it up more often than not especially in the face of company. She hated she shape of her mouth as she thought it was too big and also the dark, plain colour of her eyes that matched her hair. Danielle had no idea why Marko wanted to be around her or what he might, but probably didn't see.

And as she thought about all these things, she once again thought back to how Marko had possibly known about her birthday.

**-0-**

**Marko** took another bite of the meal she had served and couldn't help but miss home cooked meals; it had been years since he had had something this good, years since he had had something that wasn't take out or well, blood. He also found that for the first time in a very long time he was trying awfully hard to keep out of Danielle's head and once again he had found that it was incredibly difficult. Hard as he continued to try, he couldn't keep out of her mind, her thoughts were loud and clear and it was as she was speaking them directly to him. Marko found it wrong to hear _her_ thoughts, though he usually didn't. He didn't want to know what she thought about him, though would admit to having used the very same technique against other girls in the past, but she was different, so different from all of the other girls he had met and grown incredibly bored of in a matter of nights. Before Marko knew it he was listening in, he couldn't ignore her thoughts forever try hard as he may, and as he listened it grew incredibly hard for him to supress a smile.

_Marko, Marko, I like the sound of his name on my tongue. He makes me laugh, and he does that thing, when he smiles and he tries to cover it with the palm of his hand and not to mention that patched jacket I've never seen him without since the first time we met at Ichi-Ban. He makes me blush, yes of course it's embarrassing, but he at least doesn't say anything to embarrass me further. And he's good looking, just look at him, no don't, eat, he'll catch you and you'll be mortified, again. Shorter than the other three yet still taller than I am, and those jeans, how they hand from his hips, it's so hard not to stare, so incredibly hard though I can't, I definitely would never be able to talk to him or see him ever again if he saw me staring at his hips for crying out loud. _Marko supressed a laugh, though he was glad he was listening, he was incredibly glad. _I like his hair; I like how it isn't cut short and how it's probably softer and lovelier than my own. And his face, he has quite a nice face. Is it his eyes? His kind eyes? Or maybe just the smile? I should stop listing off the things about his face, damn I hope I'm not blushing again. _

He noticed that she was, but it was only a little and knowing that her thoughts about _him_ were making the reason behind her stained cheeks had an effect on him that he could not describe. Marko also couldn't help but grow immensely happy, because she thought about him, she thinks about him, very similar to the ways the he thinks about her.

_What does he even see in me?_ Marko had to blink a few times and nearly missed at what she thought next. _What did any of them see in me? I am comfortable with my size, I'm not flat but I'm not curvy either._ At her thoughts he couldn't help but think back to her birthday when he had seen her in only that shirt and those tiny pair of shorts, though stopped upon realising that he would have a small problem if he kept thinking about her and the lack of clothing she had worn that night. He quickly thought about how lovely her legs are, and how he body shape was just right, but he stopped yet again as the little warning once more flashed through his mind. _Or my hair, it's so plain, cut and colour. And the shape of my mouth, it's just too big, or how my eyes are brown and how I wish they were green. Who knows why he's here, or what he even see's in me, if he see's anything at all that is. _

If he saw her at all? Marko nearly laughed, but he stopped himself, years of practise at hand as he controlled himself not to show what he was truly thinking. Yes, she wasn't flat as a board or completely curvaceous, but she had no idea how appealing her legs were or the swing of her hips as she walked. Her lips weren't large, well to him they weren't, he saw nothing wrong with them at all in fact and often thoughts about how nice it would be to kiss them, and bite them. Her hair was a deep brown, and yes it was plain, but it was also beautiful in a way because she didn't have to do anything like so many of the other girls did these days. They also did match her eyes, her beautiful, kind eyes that Marko would never admit to anyone, he had drawn a few times. But it wasn't her looks that attracted him, no, of course it helped that he found her incredibly attractive but it wasn't her looks that caught his attention in the first place.

It was the way Danielle was and how he hoped she would always be. How absolutely kind she was all of the time to everyone around her and all those she met, how defensive she was about something she felt strongly for and how unselfish she was, how completely unselfish she was, so much that it honestly did shock him. Some girls put on an act and they think completely different to the words they say, but Danielle wasn't like that, she was genuine and true, those were the things he saw and those were the things he had grown to appreciate. Her looks had always been present but they came second when he thought about how much of an amazing person she was.

To Marko's amazement it wasn't only he that noticed those traits about her, Paul had often told him about how it shocked him that someone could be so kind. Not to mention David of course, who picked through her thoughts like he did everyone else at the first chance he could, which was the night they had been introduced to one and other for the first time. David had said she was genuine, he hadn't said it with surprise but it was something Marko had not seen coming, because David never bothered with the people he and Paul made friends with, he never needed to, they were never a lasting problem. He had grown cautious when Danielle had told him that David had been watching her because he knew that David would have wanted to have gone through her thoughts again and who knew, apart from Dwayne maybe, how many times he had done the exact same thing without having being caught. David had not spoken anything about the incident but Marko knew that if she had been a problem, he would have sorted it out by now.

_How had he known?_ Danielle's thoughts once more snapped Marko back into reality as he took another bite of his food which was still steaming, but only a little. _How did he know about my birthday? Not even Edgar and Alan knew, so how did he know? And why did he lie?_

Marko stopped chewing, her thoughts were like a slap in the face and bought him crashing back to reality and for the first time in a very long time, Marko admitted that he had indeed make a serious mistake. They hadn't known, her neighbours hadn't known, he had known because of her thoughts but it wasn't like he could tell her that, he _definitely_ couldn't tell her that. He waited for her to say something, to ask him, but she didn't. Danielle instead looked up and met his eyes for the first time since she had begun thinking about him, which in reality had only been a minute or two, and smiled that smile that he had grown rather fond of

"Is the food okay?" she asked, she was smiling but Marko didn't need to read her thoughts to know that she wanted to please him, that she honestly did want him to enjoy to food she had cooked

"Amazing" Marko grinned, though his mind was still wheeling over his mistake "It's been years, and too long since I have had a home cooked meal, I've missed it greatly"

"Ah, you're like the boys then" Danielle laughed with a small shake of her head "Living off take-out and junk food"

_How is he so, fit, living off all that junk?_

"I don't think I'm ever going to be able to go back to it now" Marko said honestly, sending Danielle a look he knew would redden her cheeks "You're gonna' have to get used to having me around for dinner" he inwardly smiled as she lit up, though his thoughts once more went back to his mistake.

Not only was he worried, for him, but he was worried for her. If David found out, shit, if David found out there would be consequences. Hiding things from David had always proved to be a difficult task especially because David, just like Marko himself, could read minds. David knew if there was a slight thought out of place, but he couldn't let him know, not yet at least. Marko then thought about what would happen to Danielle if David found out, but he didn't think about it for long as the images that flew past his eyes were enough to make him flinch. He didn't want David to find out, because if he did and happened to think too much about it, something bad might happen, and he didn't want Danielle going anywhere anytime soon.

Marko didn't want Danielle disappearing, and the thought made him quite aware of the growing feelings he had for the girl sitting in front of him and how much shit he was now going to be in because of it.


	9. Feeling

**Chasing Ghosts  
Chapter Nine: **Feeling**  
Word Count: **2,240 (I AM SO SORRY)**  
Note: **Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the late-ish update, I'm having a little bit of trouble writing. I hope you all enjoy what I have in the bad nonetheless! **  
Disclaimer:** I do not own the Lost Boys

**-0-**

**Marko** couldn't remember a time where he had been away from his brothers sides more than he had than over the past week, it seemed like the only time he saw them was when he was waking up and even then he didn't linger long, always out the door and making his way from the old, abandoned hotel and towards Danielle's apartment before the rest of the others could think another thought. After a couple of days he slowly began to hate himself a little for being so cowardly and running so quickly at the thought of David finding out about the slip, the slip that could be the end of his growing friendship with the brunette he had been spending so much time with, but it was the only think Marko could do to stop David from finding out as no one could possibly hope to outsmart or fool David.

Every single night since the slip had occurred Marko had spent his nights with Danielle in her little, yet cosy apartment. She cooked something different every night and he smiled at the thought while appreciating how much effort she truly was putting in for him. Some nights they simply sat and talked after their meals were finished and the dishes were washed until she was practically falling asleep where she was seated and other nights they both had their sketch pads out and were in their own worlds drawing away. As much as he knew he was spending all this time with Danielle was because of his fear of facing David, half of him also knew if he would still be here anyway if the entire thing had never happened, his feelings were becoming more and more clear as each night flew by and as much as he was happy, he was also extremely worried.

Marko had had girlfriends before, he'd had _many_ girlfriends in the past but they never, ever lasted long. How could they? He wasn't normal, he wasn't human, he was dark and dangerous and that wasn't something he thought about when he looked for the girls that he usually spent most of his time with. He got what he needed from them and then that was it, he wasted no time on them, no more than what was needed and that was that. Danielle was different, he wasn't looking for anything when she quite literally stumbled into his life and therefore she took him by a complete surprise and caught him utterly off guard, he wasn't prepared for _feelings_, he wasn't prepared for all that she bought along with her at all. Now all he could practically think about was how dangerous he was, how dark he was and how inhuman he was compared to her.

And that was what Marko thought of as he sat on the sandy beach of Santa Carla, the bright lights of the Boardwalk fast asleep along with Danielle who had retired just over an hour ago. He thought of his growing feelings and how he knew that she felt the same, how confused and upset he was about keeping secrets from his family and how he just knew that it would only be a matter of time before everyone found out. He was torn, to be the one to come out and say something first or try and hide what he knew for as long as he could, to keep the happiness that he had found and for that to be safe for as long as possible. The thing that hurt Marko most though was keeping his secret from Paul, because he and Paul never kept things from one, but Marko wasn't about to pull Paul into his mess, if he was going down with David he was most definitely going down alone.

Could he give Danielle up? That was what he had been asking himself for the past two nights and the answer was simple. He _could_ give her up, but he didn't want too, he really didn't want too. It was rare to find someone, anyone that was as genuine as she was, not only in her kindness but her whole manner in general. It was also one of the first times Marko had found someone that had a passion for art that could match his own, the surprise when he found that out was something he couldn't even dare to hide, much to Paul's amusement of course. She is strong, stronger than any other girl he had ever met before and completely humble which is something he had come to admire. And along with all those traits, she was also gorgeous, a natural beauty which shone brighter than the boardwalk at its utmost peak.

"Deep thought, it doesn't suit you Marko"

The worlds startled him, along with that they also shocked and scared Marko. Dwayne wasn't one for words and that was putting it slightly, but he was one for listening which was why Marko had considered talking to Dwayne a number of times this week, but he hadn't, at least not until now

"Nah, you're right" Marko mumbled, scrunching his brows as he looked out to the waves stretched out in front of him "It's more your thing"

"Mmm" Dwayne nodded, taking a seat beside the blonde, his dark arms resting atop his knees as he too looked out to the waves "Haven't been around much this week"

"I've been busy"

"Busy" the darker boy nodded, he had a knowing look in his eye that had nothing to do with the fact that he could indeed read thoughts "With Danielle?"

"Yeah" Marko grinned, thinking back to the girl that had captivated his mind for the past month "Busy with Danielle"

"You seem pretty taken with her"

"I know"

"That could be a problem"

"I know" Marko sighed, closing his eyes once more "It's uh, a two way streak isn't it? Being like this, has many ups of course, but sometimes like now you know, it has it has some downs too"

"Yeah" Dwayne nodded, taking in the blonde slowly for the first time since joining him on the sand "David won't care about the slip Marko, it's nothing that can't be worked out. Worse things have happened to us" Marko felt like telling Dwayne to keep out of his head, but it would be pointless, if David was the best and the strongest of the four then Dwayne was a very close second, he read thoughts more than he spoke.

"I don't-" Marko paused "I don't want to lose this one, I don't want to lose her. I don't even, I'm not even that close with her yet, but I don't want to lose that chance"

"I know. Tell David, Marko. It'll be better you telling him compared to him finding out by force"

"That's' true"

"I'm surprised you kept it from Paul for so long"

"Me too"

"What are you going to do after we move past this?"

"What do you mean?" Marko asked, turning to eye his friend sitting beside him

"Marko, you know what I'm talking about, don't pretend to be obtuse. You either tell her about you, about us in time or she-" Dwayne paused, meeting Marko's gaze and leaving the rest of his words unsaid "You don't want that to happen, so figure it out. Do you want her around? Do you want her to know about you, about us, about everything we are? It isn't a decision you should be taking lightly either" and with that he stood, brushing the sand from his jeans and heading back towards the Boardwalk where his bike was no doubt parked.

Marko thought about Dwayne's words for a long time after he had left, so long that he had nearly forgotten about the upcoming sunrise that would surely be his doom if he didn't get a move on. Had he thought about it? He had. But as Dwayne said it wasn't a decision that he was going to take lightly at all and even if he did decide that he wanted her, if he _really_ and truly wanted her, he was going to have to ease her into it. With those thoughts in mind Marko made his way back to the place that he called home, not only to think about his upcoming decision but thinking about what he could possibly begin to say to David about the slip he had made and what would be the consequences of his hiding out for the past week.

**-0-**

**Danielle** had had one of the best weeks in her entire life and she found that quite funny seeing as she didn't do anything spectacular, not really anyway. Staying inside of her apartment like usual wasn't anything that different than what she usually did, but Marko showing up on her doorstep every single night was. She enjoyed his company, his hidden smiles, his humour and the fact that they could just sit in silence drawing away and be completely at ease and happy. It had been a long time since she had had someone her own age to talk to, to confide in and even more of a long time since she had felt something like this, well she had never really felt like this. She found that she grew excited as her shifts came to an end and even more so when she rushed home and upstairs to her apartment to start the preparing and cooking for her latest meal, even Edgar and Alan had taken a notice to her constant happy mood, though they weren't exactly happy as to why she was always so joyous.

As she opened the door to her apartment and quickly changed into some old sweats and a singlet Danielle set to work on what she would be serving tonight, simple omelettes, though simple they were delicious. Edgar and Alan's servings only took twenty minutes to prepare and soon she was on her way down to the comic book shop, two plates in hand and her smile still stretched across her face.

"Surely your face hurts by now" Edgar grumbled, taking his plate from Danielle and nodding his head in a gesture of thanks as she arrived at the counter

"Nope" she said brightly "I hope you enjoy, nothing to fancy but you can't really go wrong with eggs"

"Thanks" Alan said lightly, though he didn't meet Danielle's eyes

"You alright?" she asked, taking in Alan with perceptive eyes, watching as he ate his omelette slowly

"He's fine" Edgar snapped rudely, glaring at the girl standing across from him "Now if you don't mind, we have work to do. I'll leave the plates outside of your door"

"Okay" Danielle said as it was the only thing that she could even think to say, the surprise and hurt was evident in her voice as she turned and walked back out the way she came, her head full of confusion over the conversation that had just occurred. It was times like this she really wished she could read minds; it would be so much easier communicating with Edgar if she could and maybe then she could finally understand why some days he seemed to like her but on other days he seemed to absolutely loathe her.

At 6:15 Danielle began to prepare another two more omelettes, one for her and one for Marko as he usually always arrived at 6:30 on the dot, ever so punctual, the thought made her giggle lightly to herself. When it turned 7:00 both omelettes had grown cold and Danielle re-cooked another for herself, she would just make another for Marko when he arrived. 9:00 saw Danielle sitting on her sofa re-reading a book she couldn't stay focused on, her eyes often wondering over towards her front door.

Danielle woke the next morning quite weary and sore as she fell asleep on her couch in a very uncomfortable sitting position that she was not keen on doing anytime again soon. She took a quick shower and dressed in her work clothes, her mind wondering to where Marko could have been the night before though after a while she scolded herself. It wasn't as if he told her he was going to be there, that he was definitely coming over for dinner, she had just assumed and over thought the situation. Disappointment swelled through her slightly before she roughly swallowed it and pushed the feeling aside, as far as she was concerned she had no right to be disappointed in the first place anyway, he didn't make any promises and even if he had she was sure there was a reasonable excuse.

Not only was the past week one of the best for Danielle, it also flew by within the blink of an eye which she came to regret as the next one passed incredibly slowly. Her days began to grow long and tiring and her nights sluggishly, she couldn't focus on a page for more than five minutes whether that was in her sketch book or one of her beloved novels. She would be lying if she said she wasn't waiting for Marko to show up on her doorstep with one of his smiles and asking what was cooking tonight, but he never did and she refused to grow sad or disappointment, though if she was asked she would admit that she was indeed missing his company.

**-0-**


End file.
